Paralegal with chronic illness who asked public to pay for her Oxford masters hits crowdfunding target in four days

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By Katie King on

A dream come true

A paralegal with endometriosis, anxiety and depression has crowdfunded enough money to study the Bachelor in Civil Law (BCL) at the University of Oxford this year.

Just days ago, Legal Cheek brought readers the story of Katy Sheridan, a 22-year-old Simpson Millar paralegal with a passion for the public law bar.

Determined to overcome her health problems, Sheridan secured a place on the prestigious masters course, but was having trouble funding it. Even with savings, a government loan and some money from her parents, the aspiring barrister was still short £4,350 and decided to ask the public for donations.

And a good decision it was. Just four days after launching her GoFundMe page and #BackTheBCL social media campaign, Sheridan has now hit her target. Posting on her crowdfunding page, she said:

#BackTheBCL has quite literally made my dreams come true — I’m going back to Oxford!! Thank you SO much to every donor, I can’t believe this has happened!

As the cost of legal education continues to increase, more and more people are turning to crowdfunding to pursue their law school dreams.

To name a few, a 23-year-old future trainee at Shoosmiths asked the public to help him fund a business skills course. His page is yet to reach its £6,500 target. Leila Taleb, however, had more success. The aspiring barrister raised the money she needs to study the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC), thanks largely to a “mystery person” who donated £12,500.

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