Advocate of the Year Grand Final

An undergraduate student from Durham University has won BPP’s Advocate of the Year competition. Due to current restrictions, the prestigious competition which was originally scheduled for the Old Bailey in March, took place virtually on Saturday, 12 September 2020.

Corrine Novell secured first place and a £5,000 scholarship towards her Barrister Training Course at BPP University Law School.  The Grand Final drew 16 students from 14 separate universities, being: Liverpool, Swansea, Aberystwyth, Derby, Oxford, Leeds, Durham, Lancaster, KCL, The Open University, Nottingham, Sheffield and Exeter, with only Liverpool and The OU having more than one finalist.

Corinne Novell said “I am absolutely delighted to have been named BPP’s ‘Advocate of the Year’ 2020 and am extremely grateful to BPP for their generosity in offering a scholarship award as a prize. I am looking forward to studying the BTC with them next year. I am especially thankful to those members of BPP who took the time to organise and run such a challenging day of advocacy and for giving the finalists the opportunity to (virtually) meet one another. All of the advocates were incredibly talented, so it is a huge honour to have won”.

The 16 finalists qualified for the Final via regional heats, which took place at BPP University Law School centres in Leeds, Manchester, Bristol, Birmingham and London Holborn in November 2019.  A total of 120 students from 33 different universities took place in these heats.  This marked a significant increase in the numbers of students who took part and in the range of Universities who entered teams, compared to previous years.

The standard of advocacy displayed by the other finalists was extremely high. BPP were pleased to award 2nd place, a £2,000 BTC scholarship to Constance Halliwell from Lancaster University and 3rd place to Liverpool University student, Amy McKechnie who secured a £1,000 scholarship.

Amy McKechnie said “"The competition was an excellent opportunity for me to be involved with and it was a great confidence boost. It has provided me with an opportunity to think quickly on my feet and introduce me to new skills in relation to both civil and criminal litigation. Aside from that, it was good fun to get involved with and a really great opportunity to meet students in a similar position all across the country. If you are thinking about getting involved, I would really recommend it to any aspiring advocate. The competition looks excellent on any legal CV and provides you with valuable public speaking experience"

Mirroring how Courts have adapted to conduct trials online due to Covid-19, this year’s Final took place virtually using MS Teams.  Students worked in pairs, competing against other teams, to undertake a criminal trial in the morning and a civil trial in the afternoon.  Judges scored the advocates on a variety of elements including conference, submission advocacy, examination-in-chief and cross-examination, with an emphasis on how they put across their case and undermined the opposition.  Professional actors played the part of the witnesses in the trial, and leading QC Nick Corsellis of QEB Hollis Whiteman Chambers was the Head Judge.

Andrew Chadwick, Dean, BPP University Law School said, “As law firms and chambers have embraced dynamic working, our prospective students have adapted to present strong propositions via a digital platform.  We are particularly proud of this year’s winners, although disappointing students could not attend the Old Bailey as usual, we were blown away by the guile and pedigree of talent, and its testament to the individuals who competed”

“Whilst there are changes in how legal services are delivered online, we are keen to champion the values of this and how students can take advantage of current technology to benefit their future firms and clients.”

BPP’s Advocate of the Year is an annual competition for undergraduate students of any discipline, studying at any university in England or Wales. 

Find out more information on BPP’s law courses here.