Congratulations to Alexander (Zander) Goss, 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.
Alexander Cameron QC, Head of Chambers, presented Zander 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.
Zander graduated cum laude from Villanova University with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, followed by a Bachelor of Laws with first class honours from University College London. At UCL he was awarded the Bentham Prize for Jurisprudence and the Charlotte Ashby Prize.
Zander has worked as a research assistant at the UCL Judicial Institute and, more recently, the UCL Constitution Unit, with particular focus on comparative laws regulating honesty in elections. He is currently completing the BPTC at BPP London and aims to join the administrative and public law bar.
17th May 2017
