I power walked my way up to the court and strolled through the court doors and promptly set off the metal detector! The security guard called me back, had a quick look through my bag then let me through again. He was a lovely, friendly man who remembered me from my interview. They always say that first impressions are the most important and if he was anything to go by, I would be in a very pleasant environment. In fact, he was such a nice man, I’m quite disappointed I didn’t catch his name, (before you start jumping to conclusions, he was well into his fifties!) so to save further confusion, I’ll call him ‘the nice security guard’.
John came down to meet me and took me to his office where we ran through my schedule and little things I needed to know such as the combination for the doors. Because of the type of people the court deal with (murderers, drug dealers, rapists etc.), every door that leads to the offices and judges rooms has a combination to stop people getting in. John said that the last work experience student at the court hadn’t been told the code and got locked in-between two doors! He had to phone the court from his mobile for someone to come and let him out!
On my first day, I was to sit in court with a clerk called Pam. Her job is to call the witness to the dock, ask the individual their name and to read out their indictment (what they are charged with). We didn’t actually see any trials that day but there were plenty of interesting cases to observe. I witnessed a man being cautioned for breaking his parole. He had raped his estranged wife and was told not to try and contact her. There were quite a few men up for GBH, ABH and even stabbing with intent to kill. However, the most interesting had to be the young man who was being sentenced for stabbing his father with a BBQ fork while he slept. The judge sentenced him to be detained at a young offenders institute until a full psychiatric report had been written. Sitting underneath the judge with Pam, and looking at these people, they just looked like ordinary citizens. It was hard to visualise them doing the things they had been charged with.
My first day ended without incident and I travelled home that evening very much looking forward to my next day.
The rest of the week, I was working in the Listings Department. Their job is to make sure that each case is seen at the court. That sounds easy but believe me, after four days working there, it’s a stressful, painstaking process.
They deal with hundreds of barristers who all have times of when they can and cannot make it to the court. Then there are the NADs. NADs are short for Non Available Dates. Witnesses to a trial have days that they cannot make because of various reasons. They then have to be put on the computer so that everyone knows which days the cases cannot be seen. All of this is taken into account and by about 12.00, a draft list is drawn up by Theres, the Listings manager. Then it is handed back out to Listings who then call each solicitors firm with the dates and times they are due at court and for which client. If someone is not happy (and there are quite a few!), it goes back to Theres who juggles it about to suit everyone’s needs. Usually at approximately 4.00, a final list is produced and dispatched to every area of the court.
Also at Listings, they put new files onto the court database. They must get around 15-20 new cases a day so coupled with sorting out the list, it keeps them all really busy!
While at Listings, I worked with a lovely girl called Sarah. My first impression was that she sounded like ‘Moaning Myrtle’ from Harry Potter, but she made me feel so welcome, I felt really bad for thinking about it.
I also worked with Jo, and Karen who again were really nice to me. On the Thursday, I had a break from Listings and worked with Brenda, the receptionist. She answers the phone and the makes announcements over the tannoy. When the phone is not buzzing off the hook, she creates new files for the cases. They have to consist of 4 different sections and must be put in a precise order or else the judges get irritated! One of my highlights that week was making two announcements over the tannoy. In my best voice I had to say, ‘Would all parties in the case of Ali please go to Court 5 immediately please.’ And ‘Would the legal representatives of Johnson, Johnson and Roberts please contact enquires on the first floor.’ It sounds immature but it was such fun!
By the time my second week came round, I had settled in perfectly and I really felt like part of the team. Everyone was so friendly, I was beginning to wonder what I had been so worried about.
On the Tuesday after Bank-Holiday Monday, I was with the Jury Officer, Eileen. The first thing she does is show the new jurors a 15-minute video about what they are being asked to do. I imagined it to be a really corny and called something like ‘So You’re Going To Be A Juror?’ It wasn’t called that and it wasn’t that clichéd, in fact, it was quite interesting. After this she has to speak to them and answer any questions they might have and hand them out their benefit claim sheets. On here, they record how much they pay in travel fares, parking spaces and food and how much they earn a month. When we returned upstairs at about 10.00, we started the process of reimbursing all the jurors whose trials had finished. They are not reimbursed for the total amount of lost earnings as Eileen has a strict budget that she must keep to. However, it means that some will gain money while others lose. At 4.00, Eileen records her jury message, which is played to the jurors at 4.30. It tells the jurors who is needed for the next week and what time they need to be at court. Because she has to record it at her desk, there is a lot of background noise which annoys her a little.
On the Wednesday and part of Thursday, I worked with Clare who was the only person in the whole office closest to my age. At 20 years old, we got on really well, and while we were working had a good laugh as well. She does general office work like helping the public with their enquires, closing files and checking the post. One day, we were in the basement looking for really old files when she told me about the little tantrums Eileen throws when she records her jury message. She told me to watch her closely and look out for the little signs that she was getting aggravated. That afternoon, there was quite a bit of noise, but no more than usual. Out of the blue, Eileen slammed down the phone and glared at everyone in the office. Clare and me looked at each other and just burst out laughing. We were quickly silenced by the fierce look Eileen shot at us. Because Clare and me got through our work really quickly, we were often left with nothing to do. To pass the time, we used to look through cases and read the indictments, and statements. It sounds terrible, but some of it made really compulsive reading. Occasionally, we would stumble across some very interesting letters written by or to the defendant. We would have a good old girlie giggle over what some of them said!
On the other half of Thursday I worked with Carolyn the finance officer. We printed cheques for solicitors companies and jurors and sent them off in the mail. Also she works on PYO (Persistent Young Offenders). All we had to do there was update the system and add a lot of new names to it! (Un)Fortunately, I didn’t know any of the names on the list!
My very last day was strangely emotional. As I walked through the door all I could think about was how quickly my time had flown. I spent the day sitting in court and although it seemed like a little bit of an anti-climax, it was a nice gentle way to round of the very hectic 2-weeks. After lunch, I thought ‘this is the last time I’ll walk through the metal detectors’ and as I said Good Afternoon to the nice security man I thought ‘that’s the last time I’ll say Good Afternoon to him’ and as I went through the door to the office I thought ‘this is the last time I unlock this door’. It was a rather poignant moment.
I left an hour early that day and I made sure I said goodbye to everyone I had worked with. They made me promise to come back and see them, which I most definitely will. There is no way I could ever repay them for how welcome they made me feel and in retrospect I had absolutely nothing to worry about.
Work Experience made me feel much more mature and I was proud to know that I was contributing to the court process. I also found out how tiring a day at work can be. I always used to wonder why my dad was so tired after a day’s work, now I know. Not just the stress of a very busy day but also the hassle of commuting to and from the court all contributed to my extreme fatigue in the evening.
Work Experience has made me see how much work and effort goes into helping the court process run smoothly and efficiently. It has mad me even more determined to succeed in my dream to become a barrister. And one thing is for sure; I would swap Work Experience for school any day!