MEMBER NEWS: Lawscot Foundation students hail success of scheme
24 August 2018
When the Law Society of Scotland launched its Lawscot Foundation it said its aim was to increase the number of people from underprivileged backgrounds entering the legal profession.
As Law Society chief executive Lorna Jack said shortly after the charity launched in 2016, the aim is to bring down “barriers for anyone who is academically bright enough” to pursue a career in law but who comes from one of the many Scottish communities that “do not produce lawyers”.
Having raised thousands of pounds to pay out bursaries to the foundation’s first eight-strong cohort last September, the organisation is preparing to welcome its second batch of students aboard next month.
Yet while financial backing is a key part of the programme, Demi Scorfield, who hails from Leith and is about to begin the second year of her law degree, said the mentoring she has received after being selected for the first cohort has also made a major difference to her university experience.
“No one in my family has ever studied at university so I did not really know what to expect,” she said.
“I was excited about starting at the University of Edinburgh but also worried that I would not fit in with other students coming from more affluent backgrounds.
“The mentoring support I have been given through the Lawscot Foundation has been a massive boost to my self-confidence, while the bursary was a great help with buying law books and with rent, and without this help it would be extremely difficult.”
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