Cordelia, aged 16, writes about her educational week at Matrix: “I was lucky enough to be offered a week’s Work Experience at Matrix Chambers, which I found thoroughly enjoyable and educational in many aspects. I spent most of the week out and about in London observing various cases in different areas of law, such as criminal, education and extradition.
On Monday, we walked up to the Royal Courts of Justice to watch Helen Mountfield QC and Sarah Hannett represent their client in a case regarding the ceasing of a disability allowance being paid to their client. We were there all day and it was very interesting to see different areas of law such as this, which I had never been exposed to before.
On Tuesday, we went to Westminster Magistrates’ Court where we watched Mark Summers in a case regarding extradition where the defendant was accused of fraud. This case was also very interesting and made me realise how complex certain areas of law, such as fraud, truly are.
The best day of the week was Wednesday, where we went up to the Old Bailey to watch several criminal cases. In the morning, we observed a rape case, while in the afternoon we watched the opening speeches of a murder case.
On Thursday, we went again to Westminster Magistrates’ Court to observe several bail applications which were also very interesting to watch. We travelled back with Mark Summers which gave us an opportunity to discuss any questions we had on certain topics. We also learnt about the Matrix Practice Team and what work they do.
Finally, on Friday we stayed at the office and were given certain Work Experience tasks to complete. I created a presentation on Legal Aid, and wrote on the effects of the reforms by the Government. This was very interesting as I knew very little on this topic before starting.
Overall, I had a great experience at Matrix, which has confirmed my hopes of studying Law at University and later on practicing law as a barrister.”