Blackfriars Crown Court visits (criminal)

ELSA will be visiting Blackfriars Crown Court again during October and November 2009. These visits will take place on Thursday mornings only. These visits are very informative as you will get to see behind the scenes of a working criminal court.

You will be given a tour of the court offices, including the Judges' Library, robing rooms (depends on the guide), witness suites, etc. You will also get a chance to talk to a judge and afterwards you can choose to sit in one of the court rooms to watch proceedings. Those of you from civil jurisdictions may be interested to see our jury system in action, those of you studying criminal law may be interested to see an actual judge's summing up - it's worthwhile taking notes as this definitely adds value to what is learnt in the classroom or in dry textbooks!

Of course, it is not possible to guarantee what will be on the court lists on the days of our visits but there are several court rooms at Blackfriars so hopefully, there should be 1 or 2 interesting matters listed. In any case, you will receive a list printout so you will be able to make an informed choice.

COST

These tours are

FREE

for ELSA members.

Non members will be charged an admin fee of £5

- cash to be paid on the day of the visit!

JOINING ELSA

If you wish, you may join ELSA on the day of the visit. Membership currently costs £15 for a full 12 months. You must complete the online application

http://www.elsalondon.org/pages/join_elsa/

beforehand so that we know to bring a membership card for you.

You can pay your membership fee in cash on the day of the visit.

PLEASE NOTE

if you cannot get up early in the morning, do not bother to register for these visits. It is very frustrating and creates a bad impression when people do not bother to turn up. The judges give their time to ELSA so please show them the respect by turning up.

MEETING PLACE

We will meet outside SOUTHWARK tube station (jubilee line) at 9.15am. If you are late please come directly to the court. Please be at the court by 9.25am. The tour will start at 9.30am. The judge does not have much time as he is fitting us in before court starts.

DURATION

The actual tour and judge's talk usually lasts about 90 minutes then you are free to leave or stay to watch court business. You will be provided with court lists (trials, hearings, bail applications, sentencing or whatever). It is not possible to forecast what will be listed on any given day but Blackfriars is busy court so there is usually a good selection to choose from.

DATES

Thursdays only

8th Oct, 15th Oct, 22 Oct, 29 Oct, 5 Nov -- ALL FULL

12 Nov, 19 Nov, 26 Nov - places available