Undergraduate law student Olivia Van Spriel, shares her experience visiting Manchester Civil Justice Centre.
The visit was a wonderful day full of learning and new experiences! Alongside my peers from the University of Staffordshire’s Law School, I had the opportunity to visit the Manchester Civil Justice Centre. The focus of the day was observing an application for an interim injunction in the case of Jacksonheim Concierge Ltd and ors. v Nathan Kohn and another.
With an early start to the day, students gathered at the university to catch the coach to Manchester. For the majority of those in attendance it was the first time witnessing live court proceedings. While it took a while to gather and understand all the case facts, several areas of law including restrictive covenants, company law and contract law presented themselves throughout the day. These areas of law are ones that students have explored / will explore within a lecture setting; however, it was incredible to see these concepts applied in a real-world setting.
HHJ Bever presided over the case and ultimately denied the claimants’ (Jacksonheim Concierge Ltd and ors.) application for the interim injunction.
The Claimants were represented by Asa Tolson from 23ES, while Simon Whitfield from Exchange Chambers acted for the defendants. Both advocates presented their arguments with clarity and precision, while giving myself and my peers a better understanding of the skills needed to present well within legal practice.
Although a long day, it was an excellent opportunity to bridge the gap between lecture content and real-life practice. On behalf of myself and my peers from the Law School at the University of Staffordshire I would like to extend my sincerest gratitude towards the advocates and those parties involved in the case for assistance proffered. Further thanks are extended to HHJ Bever for openly extending the welcome, taking the time to further explain complex terms throughout the course of the day, allowing us to have a full understanding of the facts and taking the time to speak to students after the day was complete.
Overall, it was a day to remember leaving many of us inspired and with a greater sense of which direction we would like to take our legal careers!