Funding

The Helen Grindrod Social Mobility Prize is an outreach prize for law students who meet one or more of the below social mobility criteria. Our aim is to award at least 50% of the places to applicants of black or mixed black heritage.

The Bar Council’s Race at the Bar Report shows that applicants for pupillage of black heritage do proportionately less well in obtaining pupillage than white applicants.  The report also highlights that black barristers disproportionately practise in lower paying areas of the Bar.  Therefore, we have identified that those from lower socio-economic backgrounds who are also of black heritage face additional barriers to joining the profession.

The aim of the prize is to improve access to the profession and to support high achieving students by providing experiences and opportunities and help them make informed choices about their career at the Bar.

Eligibility Criteria

Applicants must currently be in the penultimate year of a qualifying law degree. They must also have attended a state school or a private school with the help of a means tested scholarship and meet one or more of the below criteria:

• Ever been in receipt of free school meals.
• First in their family to attend university.
• Have parent(s)/guardian(s) who received income support or they themselves are in receipt of income or housing benefits.
• Spent time in care during their school years.
• Refugee status.
• Those who are or have been a young adult carer.
• Eligible for a maintenance loan from Student Finance of more than £6,700 per year.

Eight prizes will be awarded, and the winners will receive:

• A monetary prize of £250 per winner.
• A place at our Prize Winners Summer School, which includes networking and educational opportunities.  The summer school will take place Wednesday 17 – Friday 19 July 2024 at Lincoln’s Inn. Accommodation and travel expenses will be arranged and paid for as part of the prize.
• Free membership of the Inn.
• A mini-pupillage, with funding from the Inn’s Mini-Pupillage Grant Scheme.

You can make your application here

Applications are now open and will close on Monday 27 May 2024.

In 2015 the Inn established a prize for students about to begin their last year of a qualifying law degree at non-Russell Group universities. The Neuberger Prize aims to identify students who are of proven excellence and give them the opportunity to integrate with the Inn during the final year of their qualifying law degree. The prize will also provide the winners with the opportunities to network with members of the Inn and prepare them to apply for scholarships.

So far, the Prize has been a great success and you can find the names of the previous winners here.

The winners will be awarded:

• A monetary prize of £250 per winner.
• A place at our Prize Winners Summer School, which includes networking and educational opportunities.  The summer school will take place Wednesday 17 – Friday 19 July 2024 at Lincoln’s Inn. Accommodation and travel expenses will be arranged and paid for as part of the prize.
• Free membership of the Inn.
• A mini-pupillage.

Applications will open in April 2024

Lincoln’s Inn offers opportunities for sponsorship to student societies. You must complete an application form informing us why you are applying and how you intend to use the funding. We offer up to £250 and student societies should note that they will only be able to apply for sponsorship from the Inn once per academic year. Applications are open during the Michaelmas and Hilary terms. The Inn is not able to offer funding for events focusing on becoming a solicitor or day trips to London unless their is provable academic merit to the planned visit.

Student Society funding applications are now open you ca submit your applications here

The deadline for submissions is Wednesday 27 March 2024 at 5pm

The mini-pupillage grant scheme offers financial support to students wishing to undertake mini-pupillages who would otherwise not be able to do so. Grants are intended to assist with the costs of travel and accommodation as well as a clothing allowance if needed. The value of each grant is calculated based on the applicant’s anticipated expenses up to a maximum of £500.

Eligibility
Applications are welcome from prospective and current student members of the Inn. Applicants must be studying or have completed a qualifying law degree or GDL and must not be a member of another Inn. Applicants must have attended a state school (or a private school with the help of a means tested scholarship) and meet one or more of the following criteria:

• Recipient of free school meals.
• First in their family to attend university.
• Have parent(s)/guardian(s) who received income support or they themselves are in receipt of income or housing benefits.
• Spent time in care during their school years.
• Have refugee Status.

Applicants are expected to have achieved or be on track for a 2:1 or higher at university. Students who have completed three or more mini-pupillages are not eligible for the scheme. Students who have previously been awarded a mini-pupillage grant from Lincoln’s Inn are not eligible to apply again.

Students must have secured a mini-pupillage with a Chambers before submitting an application for a grant. Successful applicants will not receive their funding until they have provided written confirmation of their mini-pupillage from the Chambers they will be completing it with.

How to apply
To make an application please complete the online form.  Applications are reviewed on a monthly basis and should be submitted by the last Friday of the month.

Lincoln’s Inn offers over £2 million each year through various scholarships, awards and prizes. The majority of our scholarship fund is allocated for students who wish to undertake the Bar Course or GDL, but we also offer assistance for our pupil members and offer a number of European Scholarships.

For full information, please visit our Scholarships & Prizes page here.