#BacktheBCL
Spende geschützt
I'm Katy, I'm 22, and I need help!
What I need and why: £4350 to take up my place on the BCL at Oxford, and get one step closer to going to the bar as a disabled woman aspiring to work in legal aid.
I have a place to study the Bachelor of Civil Law starting in September 2017 at the University of Oxford. This world renowned programme has unrivalled status in its intellectual rigour, legal training, and teaching. It is the opportunity of a lifetime.
Unfortunately, it's also very expensive. The fees are £19791 for one year (!) and Oxford is the most expensive city to live in outside of London. On May 8th 2017 I found out that I was not going to be offered a scholarship by the Law Faculty. Although disappointing, this is not very surprising. Many of the offer holders are international students many years into legal practice and already have master's degrees, and, as I only have 1 year practical experience and an undergraduate degree, I was never going to be at the top of the pile. The scholarships are not means-tested.
But there are so many reasons why I deserve this opportunity, why I would make the most of it, and why you should support me.
1. My motivation
This year I have been working in legal aid for some of the most deprived people in the country. I've worked with: refugee children, age disputed children, care leavers, those being domestically abused, disabled children and their parents, mentally ill children and their parents, excluded-from-school children, looked after children, children and adults facing discrimination (race, religion, gender identity), victims of trafficking (forced labour, modern slavery, sex trafficking), children unlawfully detained, victims of torture, and those without mental capacity. I am passionate about social justice and want to use my legal skills to assist people in exercising their rights, and to change the law for the better.
The BCL will significantly improve my chances of being able to secure training as a public law barrister to dedicate my career to these vulnerable people. Addressing vulnerability in the community has always been something that I have been committed to.
In 2015 I undertook a funded internship in Bangladesh to BLAST (Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust) to assist lawyers in strategic litigation and research regarding international law and child marriage. As a student, I was also the welfare representative of my college, which involved undertaking hours of training to counsel many students through their difficulties. These ranged from the trivial to the severe, and I was dedicated to helping them see through their studies and get appropriate support.
I've also participated in talks for and training with Student Minds, to better the community engagment with mental health in the student community. To further this I set up a photo campaign in my college to dispel stigma against mentally ill students.
This complemented a long history of volunteering I undertook in secondary school - working with disabled children, volunteering with social mobility programmes, and tutoring maths to primary school children.
I am completely dedicated to the assistance of those in need and want to spend my career doing so. I need your help to do this.
2. Underrepresentation in the law
There are not many disabled women who are barristers, and we face extra barriers that others do not. In 2010, 0.6% of practising barristers declared a disability, in 2011 0.5% declared, and in 2012, 1% declared. Only about 30-35% of barristers are women. The two groups are grossly under-represented.
In 2016 I was diagnosed with endometriosis which is a chronic gynaecological condition. The long and short of it is that this condition, as well as perhaps impacting on my ability to have children in the future, means that I often experience chronic pain and fatigue, and get more easily exhausted than others around me. As is true with a lot of women with endometriosis, I also have a mixed anxiety and depressive disorder, which exacerbates a lot of my symptoms. Despite these very real difficulties, I am good at managing my conditions and have achieved a lot in spite of them. There are not many people who make it to the bar as a disabled person, and I implore you to support me in my efforts to do so.
3. My academic record
Despite the above difficulties, I got a First Class degree in my undergraduate from Oxford, scoring firsts in six out of my nine final exams (equating to five firsts overall). I wil make the absolute most of every opportunity that I manage to secure and want to assure every potential donor that your money will not go to waste.
What I need
Fees: £19,791
Living costs (calculated on Oxford's low-average living costs for nine months): £9346.50
What I have
I will be applying for the government loan of £10,000
I have saved £7,791 from my job in legal aid this year.
By working two jobs until September, I will save another £4,880. My parents (who are both retired) can contribute £2250 over the course of the nine months.
This leaves me short of £4350 (once the Go Fund Me charge is taken into account), and that's why I need your help.
What I need and why: £4350 to take up my place on the BCL at Oxford, and get one step closer to going to the bar as a disabled woman aspiring to work in legal aid.
I have a place to study the Bachelor of Civil Law starting in September 2017 at the University of Oxford. This world renowned programme has unrivalled status in its intellectual rigour, legal training, and teaching. It is the opportunity of a lifetime.
Unfortunately, it's also very expensive. The fees are £19791 for one year (!) and Oxford is the most expensive city to live in outside of London. On May 8th 2017 I found out that I was not going to be offered a scholarship by the Law Faculty. Although disappointing, this is not very surprising. Many of the offer holders are international students many years into legal practice and already have master's degrees, and, as I only have 1 year practical experience and an undergraduate degree, I was never going to be at the top of the pile. The scholarships are not means-tested.
But there are so many reasons why I deserve this opportunity, why I would make the most of it, and why you should support me.
1. My motivation
This year I have been working in legal aid for some of the most deprived people in the country. I've worked with: refugee children, age disputed children, care leavers, those being domestically abused, disabled children and their parents, mentally ill children and their parents, excluded-from-school children, looked after children, children and adults facing discrimination (race, religion, gender identity), victims of trafficking (forced labour, modern slavery, sex trafficking), children unlawfully detained, victims of torture, and those without mental capacity. I am passionate about social justice and want to use my legal skills to assist people in exercising their rights, and to change the law for the better.
The BCL will significantly improve my chances of being able to secure training as a public law barrister to dedicate my career to these vulnerable people. Addressing vulnerability in the community has always been something that I have been committed to.
In 2015 I undertook a funded internship in Bangladesh to BLAST (Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust) to assist lawyers in strategic litigation and research regarding international law and child marriage. As a student, I was also the welfare representative of my college, which involved undertaking hours of training to counsel many students through their difficulties. These ranged from the trivial to the severe, and I was dedicated to helping them see through their studies and get appropriate support.
I've also participated in talks for and training with Student Minds, to better the community engagment with mental health in the student community. To further this I set up a photo campaign in my college to dispel stigma against mentally ill students.
This complemented a long history of volunteering I undertook in secondary school - working with disabled children, volunteering with social mobility programmes, and tutoring maths to primary school children.
I am completely dedicated to the assistance of those in need and want to spend my career doing so. I need your help to do this.
2. Underrepresentation in the law
There are not many disabled women who are barristers, and we face extra barriers that others do not. In 2010, 0.6% of practising barristers declared a disability, in 2011 0.5% declared, and in 2012, 1% declared. Only about 30-35% of barristers are women. The two groups are grossly under-represented.
In 2016 I was diagnosed with endometriosis which is a chronic gynaecological condition. The long and short of it is that this condition, as well as perhaps impacting on my ability to have children in the future, means that I often experience chronic pain and fatigue, and get more easily exhausted than others around me. As is true with a lot of women with endometriosis, I also have a mixed anxiety and depressive disorder, which exacerbates a lot of my symptoms. Despite these very real difficulties, I am good at managing my conditions and have achieved a lot in spite of them. There are not many people who make it to the bar as a disabled person, and I implore you to support me in my efforts to do so.
3. My academic record
Despite the above difficulties, I got a First Class degree in my undergraduate from Oxford, scoring firsts in six out of my nine final exams (equating to five firsts overall). I wil make the absolute most of every opportunity that I manage to secure and want to assure every potential donor that your money will not go to waste.
What I need
Fees: £19,791
Living costs (calculated on Oxford's low-average living costs for nine months): £9346.50
What I have
I will be applying for the government loan of £10,000
I have saved £7,791 from my job in legal aid this year.
By working two jobs until September, I will save another £4,880. My parents (who are both retired) can contribute £2250 over the course of the nine months.
This leaves me short of £4350 (once the Go Fund Me charge is taken into account), and that's why I need your help.
Organisator
Katy Sheridan
Organisator
