3RB Awards the Ninth Nicholls Prize for Advocacy

Congratulations to Siobhan Eddie, winner of the 2026 Gray’s Inn Moot Final, and to Naomi Cooper who was first runner up.  We are delighted to award them the ninth Nicholls Prize, with £1,000 awarded to Siobhan and £500 to Naomi

The final took place on Monday 6 July 2026, attended by many of the judges and coaches who have supported the Moot programme throughout the year.  We would like to acknowledge the sterling work of the Gray’s Inn Education and Training Department in relation to this event and their entire educational programme.

About the Winners

Siobhan Eddie

Siobhan graduated from Durham University with a BA (Hons) and top-of-year prize in Theology and Religion, before completing an MPhil in Theology at Keble College, University of Oxford, fully funded by the Clarendon Scholarship and with the top-of-year prize. She received a Distinction in the GDL at City, University of London, and was awarded the Sheila Mars-Jones and Elizabeth Bagaaya scholarships by Gray’s Inn, for the GDL and Bar Course respectively.

Alongside her GDL studies this year, Siobhan has volunteered as a Housing Adviser with Citizens Advice Bromley and as a Senior Caseworker for City Community Legal Advice Centre’s IPP Appeals Service. She was also runner-up in the Maitland Advocacy Prize 2025.

Siobhan is determined to pursue a career at the Public Law Bar, and is about to begin a position as Public Law Caseworker at Duncan Lewis Solicitors. She plans to take up a place at the Inns of Court College of Advocacy in September 2027.

Naomi Cooper

Naomi read Classics and English at the Queen’s College, Oxford. She was awarded the David Karmel and Prince of Wales scholarships by Gray’s Inn for the GDL and Bar Course respectively.

Naomi is currently working full-time for a Select Committee in Parliament while completing the GDL part-time.  She looks forward to starting the BPC in January. Having decided to come to the Bar while working on violence against women and girls for the Home Affairs Committee,  she hopes to build a practice at the Family Bar.

We wish them both every success with their careers at the Bar.

About the Nicholls Prize

Our prize was founded in 2018 in memory of Clive Nicholls QC.  Clive died in February 2017, aged 84.   He had been a member of Chambers for 60 years and was Head of Chambers from 1994 until 2010.  He was still a valued member of Chambers, active in advisory work well beyond his 80^th birthday.   Clive was called to the Bar in 1957. He had graduated with his twin brother, Colin Nicholls KC, who is still a member of chambers, from Trinity College, Dublin and both became leading lights in their respective fields after joining Chambers.  Clive took silk in 1980, he sat as a Recorder of the Crown Court between 1984 and 1999 and became a Bencher of Gray’s Inn in 1989.

Clive’s was a stellar career. He had a wide range of work and was able to apply his mind to legal issues in a number of disciplines.  He specialised in extradition and the roll-call of cases in which he appeared speaks for itself – Nielsen (a landmark case which overturned 100 years of extradition law), Pinochet, Osman, and many other high profile matters.  He appeared in courts all over the world and was internationally acknowledged as a leader in his field.

Throughout Clive’s practice, and in his 16 years as Head of Chambers, he was a genuine father-figure and mentor, ever humorous, radiating dynamism and energy beyond his years and always making himself available to help other members of Chambers. He embodied and exemplified all the virtues of the Bar as a profession: he was a man of integrity who took great pleasure in his work and whose courtesy to fellow barristers never wavered, even in the most hard fought of cases.

We are proud to associate our award with the Gray’s Inn Moot Final, continuing a tradition we started with the DuCann Advocacy Prize, which ran from 2008 to 2017 and honouring the memory of Clive Nicholls QC.

27th July 2026