News & Events

“Was there really a snail in the bottle”!

Saturday 30th November provided the answer to the question “Was there really a snail in the bottle”!

Arnot Manderson Advocates’ Caroline MacBride and Gerry Hanretty were on hand to help out at Paisley Sheriff Court when Secondary Schools from throughout East Renfrewshire participated in the MiniTrials programme. Minitrials is an initiative started some years ago by Sandy Wylie QC (now the Hon. Lord Kinclaven) which allows school students to participate in real life court scenarios. Saturday started off with a Sheriff and Jury indictment arising out of an alleged assault in Rouken Glen Park. Residents of East Renfrewshire will be relieved to hear that the different accused in each of the four courts being held were acquitted…. It had all just been a terrible misunderstanding!

The afternoon was taken up with a civil jury trial of Donoghue v Stevenson, the snail in a bottle case. Of course, we had the 2013 remix and the jury heard the evidence from ardent advocates on both sides.

All involved had a very enjoyable day and all left the event a little wiser and for some of us, a little older. One submission to the jury was along the lines of “ As you will all remember from your primary school days…..”.