Kent Law School student and aspiring barrister Rachel Bale has been awarded a £19,750 scholarship by the Inner Temple.
The scholarship – one of the highest available – will fully fund the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) which Rachel plans to study in London after her graduation at Kent this summer. It will also enable her to pay for membership of an Inn of Court, a formal entry requirement for the BPTC.
The one-year BPTC is the vocational stage in training for anyone wishing to become a barrister and is designed to ensure that students acquire the skills, knowledge, attitudes and competence to prepare them for the specialised training of pupillage.
Rachel, a final-year student studying English and French Law, was interviewed for the scholarship at Inner Temple in London earlier this month by a panel of four. Thirty minutes before the interview began Rachel was given a case to read that she was subsequently questioned about by the panel. During the 20-minute interview, she was given a minute to explain the civil justice system in layman’s terms and asked to select and discuss a legal issue that had recently featured in the news. She was also asked about her participation in the 15th Annual International Law School Mediation Tournament held in Chicago last year. Rachel was one of a team of four Kent Law School student mediators who were awarded the H Case Ellis Spirit of Mediation Award after being voted the best international team by more than 400 fellow competitors.
Rachel was thrilled to hear of her scholarship success a few weeks after the interview: ‘I feel incredibly honoured to have received such a prestigious award which demonstrates Inner Temple’s confidence in my abilities as a barrister. Without this award I would not have been able to fund my BPTC year at Law School, which made the interview all the more crucial to get right. I cannot thank Kent Law School enough for the support and opportunities they have given me over the last four years, as without these key experiences I do not think I would have been so successful. Mooting has given me the conviction to stand my ground – entirely necessary when facing a panel of four opinionated barristers, mediation competitions have given me the resilience and composure to deal with pressurised situations and the constant support of the Law School staff has given me confidence to push on, even when it feels impossible. I am really proud of my achievement, and look forward to this next chapter of my legal career. I hope to see many other Kent Alumni there as well!’
Rachel has plans to specialise in property law, an area she finds fascinating due to its complex legal principles. Rachel quoted Stack v Dowden [2007] UKHL 17 as a particular case that helped fuel her passion for this area of law. Stack v Dowden is a leading English property law case concerning the division of interests in family property after the breakdown of a cohabitation relationship. Now in her fourth and final year of her degree at Kent (which also included a year spent studying abroad in Paris), Rachel is currently working on a dissertation on mortgages from a feminist perspective.
During her time at Kent, Rachel has been an active participant in the Law School’s mooting programme – most recently, Rachel (together with her moot partner and fellow student Tony Cunningham), secured a place in the finals of the Southern Varsity Mooting Competition. She is also one of the School’s Student Ambassadors, a Kent Law School Mentor and President of the University’s Erasmus Society.