Four teams set to contest Donald Dewar Debate final

21st March 2017 | law society of scotland

Teams from four schools have claimed the finalist places in this year's Donald Dewar Memorial Debating Tournament, organised by the Law Society of Scotland.

The finalists are:

Ivan Kapelyukh and Steven Roy from the High School of Dundee;
Honor Johnstone and Mahee Mustafa from Kelvinside Academy, Glasgow;
Lawrence Brown and Ewan Redpath from Madras College, St Andrews; and
Arun Smith and Matthew McIlree from Douglas Academy, Milngavie.

They are the final four of the original 128 teams from 85 schools that entered this year's competition, and will contest the top prize in the debating chamber of the Scottish Parliament on 8 June. In the semi-finals they had to tackle a variety of topics including the prioritisation of public safety over the right to strike; state compensation for victims of crimes committed by reoffenders; punishing parents for crimes committed by their children; and the rise of social media as the primary source of news distribution – only being given sight of the motion for debate one hour before the actual competition.

The Law Society will donate £1,000 to the winning team and the Glasgow Bar Association will donate £250 to the runner-up for their schools. The top two teams will share £500 worth of educational books presented by tournament sponsors Hodder Gibson.