George Heriot’s Law Society was established last year by two S5 pupils, Emily and Jacob, as a club for aspiring lawyers and anyone interested in law and justice. The club meets every week, where it hosts different guest speakers (ranging from Court of Session judges to immigration solicitors), prepares for the Law National Aptitude Test (an entry requirement for nine leading UK law schools) and stages mock trials. Not only is the society educationally valuable, it also serves as a good addition to UCAS applications and CVs!
A word from Emily and Jacob, founders of the Law Society:
‘We started Law Society because many pupils, in our year and others, were considering Law for university; we wanted a place to discuss and learn more about our shared interest. Since then, it’s been a really enjoyable and rewarding experience. We are so grateful to all the people who have attended, and especially thankful for our committee which we set up this year to help us run sessions and improve the club.
Over the weeks, we’ve been able to hear and learn from truly inspiring guest speakers (including discovering that judges don’t actually use gavels in court!) and run an entertaining mock trial in Room 129 – ‘the courtroom’ – to learn more about court procedure and allow our members to take up different legal roles. We even had the audience play the role of jury! Though it has been hard work, we are very happy with how it’s turned out and are grateful to Miss Reid for letting us use her room (and expertise!) every Wednesday. We’re planning to have another year of engaging sessions, and hope the society continues long after we leave Heriot’s!
We also engage with the wider school community; many of the guest speakers and industry professionals we meet are parents, former pupils and former governors of the school. For example, we recently visited the Faculty of Advocates on Parliament Square to meet former pupil and advocate Michael Upton (1982). He showed us around the impressive building, including the Advocates Library – often regarded as the UK’s leading law library – and Parliament Hall. We also held a meeting to discuss arranging a mock trial for the Law Society. The Faculty of Advocates provides cases and resources to aid this, which we’ve found extremely helpful for running successful trials.
If you have a background in law and would be interested in coming to speak to us, please contact the office.”
