Outreach: A Year in Review 2023–24
The 2023–24 academic year has been another busy one for the outreach team, as our programme continues to develop. Throughout the year, 700 people have engaged with our events. It has been such a pleasure to meet so many enthusiastic and motivated aspiring barristers, and we continue to be hugely grateful to all the members who have contributed to the success of these events.
The highlight of the year has most certainly been welcoming a brand new PASS cohort to the Inn, after the programme was briefly paused following the pandemic. This year we welcomed 61 scholars onto the programme.
PASS scholars have had three opportunities to visit the Inn, including the Dinner to the Universities. In addition to having the opportunity to meet with our practising barristers, it was fantastic to have our wonderful library team involved in delivering a legal research session and members of our Mooting Society who also kindly ran a workshop. The in-person events have been complemented by a series of online skills sessions and, of course, we are indebted to our partner chambers who have provided mini-pupillage placements for our scholars. To read about some of our PASS scholars’ experiences turn overleaf.
It was also fantastic to meet those who joined us for our Insight events which we deliver in each circuit every year. This year, events took place in Swansea, Newcastle, Cambridge, Birmingham, Liverpool and Southampton. These were run in addition to three online events. Attendees valued the opportunity to hear from our volunteers from a variety of different backgrounds and those who had followed different pathways to the Bar, and commented on how welcoming and approachable everybody was.
Our Dinner to the Universities took place on 21 February with 137 students from universities all around the UK and over 60 members of the Inn. The Hall was full of lively conversations, as those starting out on their journeys to the Bar met and got to know our brilliant volunteers. Thank you to all those who attended!
Our Discovery Days successfully continued through our partnership with the Sutton Trust’s Pathways to Law programme. The Pathways to Law programme is open to sixth form students who aspire to a career in the law and who meet social mobility criteria through participating universities around the country. We worked with 266 students during the year through this scheme. The majority of these visited The Inner Temple and one event was held online. We were also able to offer the opportunity to attend an event in Leeds, and we are incredibly grateful to the Widening Participation Team at the University of Leeds for hosting this.
This year also saw the introduction of an online event aimed at careers advisors in universities, which we ran in conjunction with Gray’s Inn, Lincoln’s Inn and Middle Temple. The event proved to be very popular with 91 people attending.
All of the events would not have been as successful as they have been without the support and enthusiasm of our volunteers. We are truly grateful to each of you who have carved time out of your busy schedules to volunteer at our events! If you are interested in volunteering at outreach events visit: innertemple.org.uk/volunteering-opportunities
