Portsmouth law student wins Inns of Court Scholarship
Posted on 20. Jul, 2010 by admin in Business, Law
A Portsmouth School of Law student who always dreamed of becoming a barrister is now one step closer after winning a prestigious scholarship from the Middle Temple.
Matthew Champ has beaten over 400 applicants from universities across the UK, including Oxford and Cambridge, to win £7000 which will help him financially when studying for the Bar professional training course next year.
The Harmsworth Scholarship is provided by the Middle Temple, one of the four Inns of Court which have the exclusive right to call men and women to the Bar. Matthew is the first ever Portsmouth student to win.
Middle Temple has been awarding scholarships since 1877. Its primary purpose is to ensure that those of real ability are not precluded from coming to the Bar by a lack of financial resources. All scholarships are awarded on merit.
Matthew said: “Going to the Middle Temple was a fantastic experience – it’s like a Hogwarts for barristers! I felt inspired by the calibre of talent I was mingling with.”
The 21 year-old was interviewed by a panel consisting of a barrister QC and two senior criminal barristers.
He said: “The panel really grilled me but I managed to stay confident. One of the questions they asked was ‘if I put through any law reform what would it be?’ I talked about undertakings regulations, which is a notoriously complex area of law. The QC happened to be a practising commercial barrister so this was an area he was familiar with. We ended up having quite a thorough discussion.”
The four key criteria the panel look for in an applicant are intellectual ability, motivation to succeed at the Bar, potential as an advocate and personal qualities. The barristers were impressed by the amount of work experience Matthew had arranged while at university.
“I’ve managed to get a great deal of work experience and have sat with a Judge twice, which is very fortunate. I wrote to him and begged him for the experience and was amazed when he wrote back to say yes,” he said.
Matthew has also been heavily involved in the University’s employment law clinic, a free service offering employment advice to members of the public. The clinic advises on unfair dismissal, various forms of discrimination, redundancy, harassment, the national minimum wage, working time regulations and work permits for migrant workers.
“It has given me a great opportunity to gain some ‘real-life’ experience under the direction of tutors and practising solicitors.”
Matthew completed his LLB Law and Criminology undergraduate degree and his LLM Law masters at the University of Portsmouth School of Law. He now has a place at Bristol to study the Bar professional training course, the next step to becoming a barrister.
Head of the School of Law, Caroline Strevens, said: “Matthew has been an outstanding student and we’re very proud that he has won this scholarship. He has aspired to be a barrister from day one and his commitment to clinical work has been superb. We are delighted that his participation and enthusiasm has been recognised by the Middle Temple – this is fantastic for Matthew and for the School of Law.
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