Undergraduate student wins £15,000 scholarship to pursue Barrister training

Third year Bangor University Law student, Kate Longson, has been awarded a prestigious scholarship worth £15,000 to pursue her ambition to become a Barrister.

A former pupil at St Joseph's College, Trentvale, Stoke-on-Trent, Kate from Rough Close, Staffordshire, will embark on the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) at Manchester Metropolitan University in September. She was awarded the £15,000 Lord Denning Scholarship by Lincoln’s Inn following a successful interview earlier this month. Kate was previously awarded the Hardwicke Entrance Award to cover the cost of joining Lincoln’s Inn (one of four Inns in the UK, which students must join in order to become a Barrister) and Call fees upon completion of the BPTC.

“I would like to thank the staff at Bangor Law School for all their help and support over the last three years of studying”, said Kate, from Staffordshire. She added: “the personal approach of the School was a definite advantage when it came to applying to Lincoln’s Inn. It was good to be able to sit down with the Head of School and go through my application, something that I would not have been able to do in a bigger School. The fact that staff have a practical knowledge of their subject is also a great help – having worked as legal practitioners, they know what they’re talking about”.

Senior Lecturer and Deputy Head of School Aled Griffiths commented: “it is a remarkable achievement to get a scholarship awarded in honour of the most famous lawyer in history. If I were to bet on anyone to get it, it’d be Kate. This achievement is all down to her hard work and the experience that she’s gained outside lectures, through activities like Mooting – just one of the things that the Law Society does for students here at Bangor. On behalf of the staff at Bangor Law School I’d like to congratulate Kate on her success and wish her the very best on the BPTC.”

Publication date: 16 April 2012