The Lawscot Foundation Scholarship has done amazing things to help me on my way to becoming a lawyer. I am currently a first-year trainee at Pinsent Masons, in the corporate team for my second seat. Flashback six years ago to 2018, I was finishing up my fifth year of school and eager to start studying law at University in September. I can still recall the feeling of when I saw the email offering me the Lawscot Foundation Scholarship; it was the first moment where I thought becoming a lawyer was a real possibility.
In September 2018, I began studying Scots and English Law (Dual-Qualifying) at the University of Dundee with the assistance of the Lawscot Foundation through financial, mentoring and industry insights. As someone who grew up having never known anyone in the legal industry, the access to a legal mentor and legal events that the Lawscot Foundation provided was invaluable and helped me understand what a career in law really looked like and the steps required to get there.
In November 2019, second year of university, the Lawscot Foundation ran a Legal Challenge Day with various law firms and a bank around Edinburgh, which I participated in, and is a particular event which stands out to me even today, due to the opportunity it provided me to network and showcase my abilities to various law firms at the top of the Scottish Legal market. It was at this event where I met representatives from Pinsent Masons and dreamed of being able to work for that firm. Then, four months later in February 2020, the Lawscot Foundation and Pinsent Masons held a Kirk Murdoch Scholarship information evening, where Lawscot Foundation students in my year where told about the Kirk Murdoch Scholarship (which the Lawscot Foundation and Pinsent Masons have set up jointly) and we were encouraged to apply (the winner being selected from an essay competition) and we were also provide the opportunity to network with lawyers from Pinsent Masons, which again, lit the fire in me to work for the firm. That evening on the train home, I began to research the essay competition topic (the greatest challenges facing the future of the legal profession) and began to think about how much I wanted to win the scholarship and craft an essay capable of winning the competition. Fast forward to May 2020, when I received the phone call telling me I had won the Kirk Murdoch Scholarship, which would provide me with two vacation schemes with Pinsent Masons. By the end of my second year, thanks to the Lawscot Foundation Scholarship and the Kirk Murdoch Scholarship, I felt well on my way to becoming a lawyer at my dream firm.
During third year of university, thanks to the financial support from the Lawscot Foundation Scholarship and Kirk Murdoch Scholarship, I did not need to work alongside my studies, which was key to me being able to dedicate all my time to my degree and be on track to receive a first-class honours degree. During this year of university, I applied for a training contract at Pinsent Masons and was fortunate enough to pass all stages and by the time I undertook the first vacation scheme with Pinsent Masons, what remained for me to receive a training contract offer was to impress on the vacation scheme and assessments, which I happily did. In August 2021, just before the start of my fourth year of university, I received the news that I had been offered my dream job as trainee solicitor at Pinsent Masons.
During my fourth and final year of my undergraduate degree, again thanks to the financial support of both of the Scholarships, I was able to work incredibly hard and graduated with a first-class honours degree in Scots and English Law (Dual-Qualifying), which had always seemed like a dream out of reach until the assistance of the Scholarships. In June 2022, I undertook the second vacation scheme with Pinsent Masons (thanks to the Kirk Murdoch Scholarship) with the London Pensions team, where I had such a fantastic experience it confirmed to me that Pinsent Masons was the firm I wanted to work for.
Fast forward to September 2023, I started my training contract with Pinsent Masons in their London office with the Pensions team, where I had undertaken my second vacation scheme. The experience of having been within the Pensions team only the year before as a vacation scheme student and then starting my training contract with the team was a fantastic experience and made the process of starting my dream job much less nerve wracking and a wonderful introduction to working at the firm.
Now being in my second seat of my training contract, I am inching ever closer to my dream of qualifying as a lawyer and I can say with absolute certainty that applying and receiving the Lawscot Foundation Scholarship has been one of the best decisions I have ever made and one I will forever be grateful for assisting me to start my dream career.
Applications for the Lawscot Foundation are open from Monday 22nd April - Friday 21st June. We encourage you to apply if you meet the eligibility criteria. You can make your application here.
Applications for places on our 2024 scholarship are now open.
