Hammond Cup – Law Society Advocacy Competition

Every year the Nottinghamshire Junior Lawyers Division runs an advocacy competition which is open to trainees, paralegals and pupil barristers from across the county. Entrants can choose to make a civil or criminal application and have ten minutes to impress a panel of three judges who gleefully interrupt and ask questions about points of fact or law to put them off their stride.

The competition has two rounds. The first is open to everyone and the four with the highest score progress to the final where they participate in sections of a mock criminal trial. The first round was last week and, inevitably, the serious stuff was followed by a trip to the pub for food and drink whilst the boffins crunched the numbers to work out who made it to the second round.

The standard is very high and it’s a great opportunity to dust down those LPC advocacy skills and try to remember how to make a half decent argument. It’s also great fun and sets up a bit of friendly inter-firm rivalry. This year there are two BJ’s trainees in the final against two trainees from Cartwright King, so watch this space for an update…