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A total of 650 students are participating in The Future Lawyers Program, which has been developed as an alternative to the traditional Mock Law programs.

President of the Law Society of NSW, Richard Harvey, said The Future Lawyers Program provides the year 10 and 11 students with an opportunity to learn from experienced and knowledgeable solicitors within the comfort of their own home.

“When it became clear that Law Society’s face-to-face Mock Law Programs would be impacted by COVID-19 lockdown restrictions we moved quickly to create a new online format for high school students,” Mr Harvey said.

“During these uncertain times it is important to ensure we adapt to our current environment and create new opportunities for students considering a career in the law.”

The Future Lawyers Program is running over six weeks with different topics and lecturers and concludes in June 2020.

Topics covered include An Introduction to Australian Legal Systems, Advocacy, Law Reform, Policy and Ethics, as well as Mock trial topics to keep teams on their toes.

“At the end of each week a quiz will be sent to participants and the results tallied,” Mr Harvey said.

“After the six-week program concludes we will be announcing the student with the highest overall quiz score.

“All students that complete the program will receive a participation certificate and the student with the highest overall quiz score will receive a further ‘Top Student’ certificate.”

Mr Harvey said The Future Lawyers program is being provided free of charge for all schools and students.

“My thanks to those solicitors who have volunteered their time to assist in delivering this program and are generously imparting their knowledge and experience to the next generation of lawyers,” he said.

Full list of schools taking part in the program is attached. Media quality image of Mr Harvey available here