Funding and scholarships
You may be worried about how to pay for your training, but the Inns of Court offer up to £6,000,000 worth of scholarships each year. For more information about each Inn's scholarship opportunities, please see their websites: Gray's Inn, Inner Temple, Lincoln's Inn, Middle Temple.
There are also other sources of funding that you can explore below.
Scholarships from the Inns of Court
The Inns all offer different awards to pupils, but the following types are available.
- Scholarships for the GDL
- Scholarships for the vocational component
- Pupillage awards
- Assistance if you are a disabled student
- Assistance for work experience opportunities (including international opportunities)
- Essay and mooting prizes
You should check the relevant Inns' website - Gray's Inn, Inner Temple, Lincoln's Inn and Middle Temple - to find out more information about specific scholarships.
Other sources of funding
- A number of high street banks, which offer graduate loans, which can be large enough to cover the costs of a substantial portion of your studies and accommodation.
- The government offers a Postgraduate Master’s Loan, that you may be eligible for if you study a combined LLM and vocational component (which is offered by some providers). Although these loans are only available to students who are resident in England, the Welsh government also offers some loans and bursaries. Please note that these are unlikely to cover the full fees for the course, so do bear that in mind when considering this as a possible option.
- Many vocational component providers offer scholarships to students to cover part of their fees.
- The Kalisher Scholarship Trust, which covers the vocational component course fees for two aspiring barristers each year and provides a variety of smaller bursaries and awards including an annual £3,000 essay prize. The aim is to encourage and support talented students who would otherwise not be able to pursue a career at the criminal Bar.
- If you are successful in obtaining a pupillage before undertaking your vocational component, some chambers will allow you to receive part of your pupillage award in advance of pupillage, which is known as a ‘draw down’.
- The Law Reform Essay Competition offers generous prizes to winners and runners-up, which may support you during your studies.
- You may also need to consider part-time work and paralegal work. As well as assisting you financially, the right experience could help your search for pupillage.