Jayesh, 16, on his week at Matrix:
“I had the great fortune of receiving a Work Experience placement at Matrix Chambers this week. On the first day, I completed an exercise where I learned about the requirements to convict a person with gross negligence manslaughter. This was followed by accompanying an Office Assistant to a courtroom where an inquest into the death of Mark Duggan was taking place. I also summarised news articles as well as researching a venue that Matrix could use for a 2014 event.
The next day was spent in court, where I watched Matrix barrister Aidan O’ Neill QC in the Court of Appeal attempt to overturn a decision made by the Upper Tribunal, as well as briefly meeting Anita Davies, one of the Trainees, in the afternoon. On Wednesday, I wrote a report about conditional fee agreements, before going to the Old Bailey to watch some criminal cases where the defendants had been accused of murder. I began Thursday by watching Hugh Tomlinson QC win in the Court of Appeal and I was later taken to lunch by him in the Hall at Gray’s Inn. I then met Raj Desai, another of Matrix’s barristers, whom I accompanied to a nearby café and who provided me with valuable advice regarding university. In the afternoon, I arranged VAT receipts in alphabetical and time order for the Fees team, and on Friday I helped organise them into the barristers’ individual files. After that, I completed an exercise about how to draft a bail application for a person in a case, followed by summarising court decisions for the Legal Information Team.
My Work Experience at Matrix was extremely useful in helping me learn more about the sort of work that barristers do and gave me an excellent insight into how courts of law operate. As a result of this Work Experience, I am strongly considering going into law in the future. I would like to thank the staff at Matrix for accommodating me during this interesting and thought provoking week.”
