For my week of work experience I went to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and spent a lot of time over at the Sheriff Court.
On my first day I waited in the meeting room where I was introduced to the Depute of the first floor which consisted of the summary courts. I met the disclosure team which takes in cases and decides if information on the accused can be handed out to the law firm requesting it. After lunch I went over to the office they have in the Sheriff court and I was allowed to sit in the custody court and the lawyers deliberated between if the accused should be given bail before their Intermediate Diet.
The second day I went up to the department which is in charge of preparing cases for the Sheriff court. They handle cases such as assaults and abuse. I was able to look through the accused past offences if they had any and review the case. Later on we went over to court again to sit in the Sheriff courts.
On the third day we went to the department that focused on Sheriff and jury trials which was for those who had committed more serious offences. I had the chance to look through photos of the scene and listen to police interview tapes and later on we went over to the court.
On the next day we had an overview of warrants and minute sheets. Warrants are sent out to the accused if they don’t attend court and minute sheets are notes on the case that the police took during the last hearing.
On my last day I spent the full day at court with the depute lawyer in charge of running the service over at the court. I got to sit through many interesting court hearings and meet lots of lawyers who experience this everyday.
