Sixth Form Law Society enjoy an arresting session with Brunel University Street Law Programme

On Monday 9th March Barnhill’s Sixth Form Law Society were treated to a legal session delivered by the staff and students from Brunel University, as part of their Street Law Programme.

The Street Law programme has been designed for undergraduate students at universities across the country, to deliver teaching sessions to Sixth Formers on aspects of UK law. Barnhill had previously been visited by the Street Law Group from the London School of Economics, when a former Barnhill student was part of the team.

Dr Louise Forde and her students delivered a session on ‘Joint Enterprise’ and the regulations around it in UK law.  Joint enterprise is a legal doctrine in England and Wales that allows multiple people to be prosecuted for the same crime—often murder or serious violent offences—even if only one person actually committed the act. It applies when individuals assist, encourage, or plan a crime together, making them equally liable. It is a complex legal argument that often affects young people when they socialise in larger groups; the Brunel students did an excellent job of explaining it to our Year 12 students, giving them a real-life case study to unpick. They were given the context of a real case that had been to court and each person’s involvement in the events that led to the crime; the students were then asked to determine who was convicted of what, once the law of joint enterprise was explained to them.

The Year 12 students worked well together trying to determine what was an appropriate decision for each participant in the lead up to the crime and at the same time, they were able to develop transferable skills such as listening, debating, analysing and using evidentiary support to back up their points. All are useful skills for a future career in law; they were also given the opportunity to ask questions of the Brunel students about the case and their current law degrees, which will be invaluable when the Year 12s begin their own applications to university next term.