Last Monday and Tuesday a man called James Fahy came to our school to talk to us about all things law. He introduced himself as a practicing barrister, and a previous member of an garda siochana so he was well experienced. On the Monday we focused on civil law, I found this so interesting, he explained to us how the whole system works from start to finish, and kept us amused by telling us hilarious stories along the way. I learned so much, previously I didn’t understand any of the court systems in ireland but now i now that it goes from the district court, to the circuit court, high court, the court of civil appeal and finally the supreme court. The difference between a barrister and a solicitor? solicitors have a public office and barristers don’t (as they spend all their time in court). A solicitor hires a barrister unless in the district court where barristers are not required. A Lawyer is actually just the name given to a member of the legal profession. This is just some of the valuable information that I learned.
On the second day we were given the opportunity to go to the local district court. We were all given scripts and had to act out a murder trial. Everyone got a role and I was given the role of the solicitor who was defending. This was so fun and such a good experience. I took my role very seriously and was very disappointed when we didn’t win. This course has helped me to realise that i would love to choose law as my future career, However i think I would rather be a barrister than a solicitor as the barrister gets to do all the talking. I highly recommend this to every ty student as it was a very valuable part of the year.
Aisling Delahunty 