Congratulations to Katie Ayres, winner of this year”s Gray”s Inn Moot Competition, and of the Three Raymond Buildings Du Cann Prize for Excellence in Advocacy.
Richard Du Cann QC was one of the foremost – and formidable – advocates of his generation, a student and later a Master of the Bench of Gray”s Inn, who practised from these Chambers for 40 years. As well as having a distinguished career at the Bar, he had a long association with the Inns of Court School of Law, including serving as Vice-Chairman of its governing body and chairing its Finance Committee. He died in August 1994 and it was only fitting that Chambers should honour his career by the setting up of an award.
For the first ten years, the prize of £1,500 was known as The Du Cann Memorial Prize for Excellence in Advocacy. It was administered by the ICSL and awarded annually to the student obtaining the highest aggregate mark in the Advocacy Assessments on the Bar Vocational Course.
Since 2008 we have been proud to associate our award with the Gray”s Inn Moot Competition, and we take great pleasure in attending the finals and witnessing the skills of the winner first-hand.
Hugo Keith QC, also a Master of the Bench of Gray”s Inn, presented Katie with the annual prize of a cheque for £1,500 plus a copy of Richard Du Cann”s book, the Art of the Advocate, which is commended to all students as essential reading, even today.
Katie graduated from Worcester College, Oxford, in 2009 with a degree in Philosophy, Psychology and Physiology. After a year of extensive travel, she worked as an Investment Banking Analyst at NM Rothschild & Sons in the City. She converted to law at BPP in Manchester last year, where she achieved a Distinction in the GDL. She was awarded a major GDL scholarship and the Denise Pannick Award for the BPTC, and this year Gray”s Inn also awarded her an Internship scholarship to enable a team of 6 Inn students to participate in the Willem C Vis International Arbitration Moot in Vienna.
Katie is currently studying the BPTC, and is due to commence pupillage at Exchange Chambers in Manchester in October 2014.
We send her our best wishes for a successful and enjoyable career at the Bar.
14th May 2014
