Lincoln's Inn - Funding - Applications Open

Lincoln’s Inn provides a variety of funding for prospective student members, including annual prizes, law society funding, mini-pupillage grants and scholarships.

The Helen Grindrod Social Mobility Prize

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 8 to Friday 9 July 2026 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.

Applications are now open and close on Friday 8 May 2026 at 16:00. Apply now.

Mini-Pupillage Grant Scheme

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 more than two 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.

We have also put together some guidance for students to help keep costs low during their mini-pupillage, which can be found here.

Applications for 2026 are now open, you can submit an application here.