The Law100 Scholarship Scheme
Law100 offers an opportunity to support students from underprivileged and underrepresented backgrounds, helping to make the law sector more representative of the society it serves.
To celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the founding of our Law School in 2023, we aim to create 100 new scholarships to support students from underprivileged and underrepresented backgrounds to study Law at the University of Exeter while ensuring that financial resource is not a barrier to these students fulfilling their potential.
Awards of £12,000 over three years will support scholars' living and study costs, enabling them to complete their studies without undue financial worries. Scholarship awards will be made by the University's Widening Participation team and will be based on established and robust measures of disadvantage which include living in a low-income neighbourhood, being eligible for receipt of free school meals, living in care, and measures of disability. Awards are also merit based, with scholarships awarded based on students' academic attainment.
The Fund has been launched thanks to founding donations from alumni Peter Baldwin (History, 1991), Steve Edge (Law, 1972 & Hon LLD, 2012), Vanessa Knapp OBE (Law, 1978), Charles Platt (Law, 1974), and Nigel and Sara Tozzi (both Law, 1979), along with Nicholas Cheffings, who is a member of the University Council.
I'm delighted to support this initiative in the Law School's 100th year. My time studying law at Exeter played a large part in helping me to build a happy and successful career in law and I want to ensure that all young talent has the same opportunity to have a fulfilling career as I did. This is a very worthy cause.
Steve Edge (Law, 1972 & Hon LLD, 2012)
Consultant and former senior tax partner at Slaughter and May, Chair of the Alumni Network Group and founding donor to the Law100 Scholarship Fund
Get involved and help ensure talented yet underrepresented students can achieve their potential.
Contact Simon Tyson, Senior Development Manager on S.Tyson@exeter.ac.uk or +44 (0)1392 722152
Why?
At the University of Exeter, we believe that everyone with the ability to do so should be able to benefit from a university education. We also know that not everyone can because of a lack of access or financial support. Social mobility in the UK is in decline and the pandemic has only served to widen these inequalities. This decline is a particular problem for professions such as Law which have historically struggled to ensure equal access.
The University of Exeter commits over £14m annually towards our Widening Participation strategy. This includes a range of programmes to support individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds and bespoke activity within targeted schools. Our ‘Exeter Scholars’ programme sees us work with around 1000 schoolchildren from underrepresented and underprivileged backgrounds, while we also run bespoke programmes targeted at increasing awareness and engagement in specific industries where social mobility is most lacking. Our 'Pathways to Law' programme is run in collaboration with the Sutton Trust and targets high-achieving students in state schools and colleges who will be the first generation in their family to attend university. The programme aims to raise aspirations and provide students with the skills and confidence to pursue a career in Law.
Meet the Scholars
Our support of students from disadvantaged backgrounds extends beyond financial help and we are proud to offer an extensive programme of education and welfare support to students, as well as targeted career support to ensure that they are able to fulfil their potential beyond graduation.
In the video, Law student Jasmine, a first-generation university student, talks of her experience of starting university.
Your support
We are looking for supporters who share our ambition of enabling talented students in need of financial support to study at university and pursue a career in the legal sector. As the University is an exempt charity in the UK, philanthropic support of this initiative can be very tax-effective for donors.
We welcome support at any level – gifts of any size can collectively be transformational and combine together to fund a scholarship. To make a donation to the general Law100 fund, please click here.
Should you wish to fund a scholarship in full, either as an individual or in partnership with your Law Firm, then a donation of £12,000 would be required. Gifts can be given over the three years of an undergraduate law degree and could cost as little as £183.30 per month if you are a higher rate tax payer. We are also interested in talking with graduates interested in acting as class champions to encourage their Exeter contemporaries to contribute towards a jointly funded scholarship, as with the Class of 1978 Law Scholarship.
For further information on how you can support this initiative, please get in touch.
