Congratulations to Samuel Parsons, 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.
James Lewis QC, a Master of the Bench of Gray’s Inn, presented Samuel 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.
Samuel graduated from Hertford College, Oxford, in 2013 with a degree in Music. He converted to law at City University, where he achieved a Distinction in the GDL, and is currently in his BPTC year. He was awarded the Bedingfield Scholarship and a Residential Scholarship at Gray’s Inn.
Samuel will be studying for a Masters at Harvard Law School in 2015-16, before commencing pupillage at South Square.
We send him our best wishes for a successful and enjoyable career at the Bar.
20th May 2015
