A group of Legal Practice Course students from Anglia Law School have won the Probate Transactional competition sponsored by Attwaters, a leading local firm of Solicitors. The competition forms part of an innovative approach used to teach the Probate and Administration module of the one-year graduate course for students who hope to progress to their training contract.

The competition involves students working in teams of five to progress a virtual client's probate matter through all stages from taking instructions to distributing the estate, closing the file and billing. Anglia Ruskin University's Virtual Learning Environment, which students can access remotely, is used for setting the tasks, for submitting the students' work to their supervisor (an LPC tutor) and for feeding back comments from the supervisor to the student. The aim of the competition is for students to not only apply their knowledge in the area of Probate, but also to practise the skills of writing, drafting, legal research and teamwork and to demonstrate accurate time recording, billing, and the ability to meet deadlines, thereby demonstrating commercial awareness.

The members of the winning team - Amanda Crowe, Rachel Eldridge, Rachel Gunn, Philip Hopkins and Kristie Willis - were presented with their prize of a voucher for a day's paintballing at a 'Go Ballistic' centre, by Lesley-Ann Mayhew, a Solicitor from Attwaters' Wills, Probate and Trusts department. The prize included 500 'paint balls' for each competitor and lunch for the whole group, providing an opportunity to work off some of the stresses and strains of their demanding coursework. All the competing entrants received a certificate, with the winners receiving their voucher prize at a ceremony during Induction Week for the new Legal Practice Course.

Lesley-Ann Mayhew is herself a graduate of the LPC course at Anglia Ruskin and was delighted that Attwaters are sponsoring the prize:

"After completing the LPC at Anglia Ruskin myself I thought I would recommend to our firm's marketing committee a prize which should offer some uncomplicated, fun entertainment to offset some of the pressures of the course! Our congratulations go to all the members of the winning team and we would like to wish them all success in their future careers. The probate transactional competition forms part of the forward-thinking approach taken by Anglia Ruskin to teaching this course, which we admire and wanted to support."

Michelle McCanna, Pathway Leader for the full-time Legal Practice Course at Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford, comments:

"Our course is demanding, but as a smaller provider of the LPC we offer a friendly, personal approach to learning, using workshops to encourage good working relationships and the sharing of knowledge and skills. I was actually one of Lesley-Ann's tutors back in 2002/3 when she was a student on this very course, so it's great to see her progressing well at a well-regarded firm like Attwaters, and we are very grateful to the firm for agreeing to support our students by sponsoring this award. We believe the Attwaters Probate Transactional Competition gives our LPC students added value when seeking and entering training contracts in the legal profession."

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