Before coming to the Bar, Georgia-Mae gained considerable experience of criminal law and proceedings as a Trainee Legal Adviser at the Thames and Stratford Magistrates’ Courts. She spent every working day in court and sat across the spectrum of trial, overnight, sentencing, case management, and traffic courts with magistrates and judges. During this, she thoroughly advised magistrates, assisted unrepresented defendants in giving their evidence and presenting their mitigation, and observed a range of advocacy, amongst other experiences.
She was also a Kalisher Trust Intern at the Sentencing Academy. For this, she researched for and wrote a paper on Knife Crime Prevention Orders and their practical implications, as well as a blog on recent developments in sentencing law. She represented the Sentencing Academy at academic conferences and the Sentencing Council’s consultation on the Totality Guideline. Following the conclusion of her internship, she has accepted an invitation to remain with the Sentencing Academy as a Consultant. In this capacity, she has written a thorough document explaining those ancillary orders that are currently available to criminal courts in England and Wales.
Georgia-Mae has also written articles and blogs for the Justice Gap, Amicus, and other organisations on criminal law, international law, and current affairs.
Prior to this, Georgia-Mae paralegalled at Suffolk Law Centre where she performed casework in discrimination and family law. She was then promoted to the position of Legal Triage Officer through which she specialised in advising vulnerable people. She held conferences, produced advice letters, assisted with applications, briefed counsel, and signposted where necessary. This extended to Court of Protection, debt, housing, and criminal areas.
Simultaneously, she was the Community Projects Officer at the Ipswich and Suffolk Council of Racial Equality where she evaluated Suffolk Police’s use of stop and search at public meetings and worked with prisoners, healthcare professionals, and politicians. Following this, Georgia-Mae has maintained her involvement with the Ipswich and Suffolk Council of Racial Equality as a Trustee.
She has also been successful in several advocacy competitions. She won 6KBW College Hill’s Advocacy Competition and was a finalist of the United Kingdom Environmental Law Association Lord Slynn of Hadley Moot, as well as two competitions within her undergraduate university. She represented her university at the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot in which her team placed third. Georgia-Mae was part of her university’s external mooting team and also won her university’s Berwin Leighton Paisner Negotiation Competition.
After completing her undergraduate degree, Georgia-Mae was awarded the Middle Temple Readers’ Scholarship and BPP University’s Advocacy Scholarship for the Bar Professional Training Course. During her studies, she volunteered for BPP University’s Streetlaw and the University of Nottingham Pro Bono Society’s Unbarred Project: Organisations providing information to prisoners and unrepresented individuals about criminal appeals, disclosure of convictions, and rehabilitation. She also volunteered for Leducate. For this, she researched discrimination and human rights law to contribute to a curriculum for secondary school students.
Additionally, whilst studying at university, she worked in politics and retail. Through this she achieved significant experience of interacting with, assisting, and persuading a variety of individuals.