MEMBER NEWS: LawScot Foundation's Demi Schorfield is the first Kirk Murdoch Scholar

9 September 2019

MEMBER NEWS: LawScot Foundation's Demi Schorfield is the first Kirk Murdoch Scholar

At Scottish Mentoring Network, we were delighted to welcome Demi Schorfield to speak at our Parliamentary Mentoring Showcase Event, #MentoringWorks.  She shared with us her journey from being a mentee with the LawScot foundation, to becoming a mentor herself.  She spoke candidly of her experience of university, and how the support from a mentor enabled her to get to grips with studying.  Demi, who studies Law at the University of Edinburgh, has now been named as the very first Kirk Murdoch scholar.  This scholarship, launched in memory of the late Pinsent Masons lawyer Kirk Murdoch, will provide financial support and an internship for Demi.

Demi’s inspiring story was told to the MSPs at the reception, and highlighted how mentoring can be used in an academic context to support new students.  Demi spoke of how everything from study techniques, choosing your classes to independent living, could be discussed with her mentor.  She thanked the LawScot foundation, and explained that she had been inspired by her experience to mentor a new student herself. 

LawScot foundation are members of Scottish Mentoring Network, and have been providing mentoring to academically talented students from less advantaged backgrounds in Scotland since 2016. The foundation was established by the Law Society of Scotland to help provide fair access to the legal profession, and provides financial support as well as mentoring to support the students as they progress through their studies.  The mentors are solicitors or trainee solicitors who are trained in their mentoring role.  To find out more about LawScot Foundation, read more at their website here.

Read the full article about Demi and her scholarship from the Herald here.