Meet one of our Bar Course 2024 scholars: Daniel Leyva.
Without the scholarship I would not have been able to finish the Bar Course with anywhere near as good results, nor would I have got to know so many lovely people!
Could you tell us briefly about your background, and why you chose to join Gray’s Inn?
After finishing university, I knew that I wanted to become a barrister. I was working as a Judicial Assistant when I joined Gray’s Inn, and I subsequently worked as a paralegal before starting the Bar Course as a Residential Scholar. I chose to join Gray’s Inn for three main reasons: residential scholarships, the scholarship application process and the Inn’s tight-knit community atmosphere.
Before deciding on my Bar Course provider, I knew I wanted to do the Bar Course in London so that I could go to more extracurricular events and be around lots of Bar Course students. I come from Birmingham and don’t have any family living in London, so I would need to rent somewhere in London while I studied. The fact that Gray’s Inn offers residential scholarships was an immediate draw, as it would drastically reduce the cost of my Bar Course year, reduce the number of hours I would need to work, and so give me more time to study and attend events.
The scholarship application process also suited me; I finished university with good grades, so the paper sift benefitted me by cutting out some of the competition before even reaching interview.
I had also heard from a bencher of the Inn that it was relatively small, so its community of barristers and students is close-knit. This was attractive not only to make new, long-lasting friends but also to get to know more barristers across different practice areas and levels of seniority.
What does this scholarship mean to you?
The Residential Scholarship made my Bar Course year unforgettable – and far easier! Not only did I not have to work alongside my studies to afford rent, but I made close friends with the other scholars living on-site and felt integrated into the Inn’s community. It therefore helped me both academically and socially. Without the scholarship I would not have been able to finish the Bar Course with anywhere near as good results, nor would I have got to know so many lovely people!
What’s the best advice you would you give to students applying for Bar Course Scholarships?
First, look up the assessment criteria which are published on the Gray’s Inn website. This is not a trick – it is genuinely the criteria which the assessment panel will consider when deciding to whom to award scholarships.
Second, write all your employment, volunteer and extracurricular roles out on a sheet of paper – including those which are not legal in nature. Write out the general skills you used and tasks you carried out in those roles, as well as any specific experiences which stick in your mind as particularly difficult or special.
Third, select the experience which best fulfils the assessment criteria being assessed in the scholarship application form. Use the STAR technique (Situation, Task, Action and Result) to ensure your answers are concise and well-structured.
Fourth, in preparation for the interview, keep up to date with the big legal developments in the news. A helpful resource for doing this is Joshua Rozenberg KC’s blog on substack, called ‘A Lawyer Writes’. The questions are not necessarily based on current events, but they can be!
Meet another scholar
