Society's school debating competition kicks off again

Whether the internet does more harm than good will be debated by school pupils across Scotland in the first round of the Law Society of Scotland’s annual debating competition.

Now in its 16th year, the Donald Dewar Memorial Debating Tournament will see 128 teams from 102 Scottish schools compete for the top prize of £1,000 to be awarded to the winners of the final next June. The tournament is the biggest school debating contest in Scotland and 14 more schools have entered for the first time this year.

Laura Gulliver, careers and outreach manager at the Society, said: “The internet is an amazing resource – from finding out about just about anything there is to know, doing shopping or booking a holiday – but of course there are issues around security and online criminal activity. We’ve set our teams a challenge by asking if the internet is harmful and I’m looking forward to hearing the arguments they put forward."

The first round of debates will take place on 19 and 25 November and 3 December. Volunteer judges are still required – for further information go to www.lawscot.org.uk/debating, or contact debate@lawscot.org.uk.