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(Mock) trials and tribulations

The mock trial, something more commonly seen in University law schools, is popping up in Scotlands primary schools, with real court practitioners involved.

I like this. I know that, as an adult, the day I went into a court when I went for jury duty was the first time I'd ever been in a working court, despite having worked in the Scottish Courts complex in Edinburgh for years (we're not counting the time when lots of staff in the court complex downed tools and shuffled in to watch Jack McConnell being sworn in as First Minister) .

I didn't know what the court would look like: I was surprised by how modern it was (not like the ones I'd looked through the door windows of at the court complex) . I had a vague idea of who would/should be there, but nothing more than that. I don't work with criminal law, so had only the vaguest of ideas about how things worked in such cases.

Question - has anyone reading this ever visited a court, unless required to for jury duty? If you have, was it what you expected? Did you feel you knew what was going on, and what the dos and don'ts were?

No need to confess your criminal convictions though ;)

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