11KBW and 39 Essex Chambers join forces to expand scholarship for Black aspiring barristers

Two 30k awards

Two top civil chambers have announced a collaboration that will double the reach of an existing scholarship programme aimed at increasing Black representation at the civil bar.

The newly renamed 11KBW–39 Essex Chambers Scholarship will offer two awards each year, up from one, each worth £30,000 towards tuition fees and maintenance for Black students on the Bar Professional Course.

The scholarship was originally launched by 11KBW in 2021 and has since supported five young aspiring barristers, including Jaizzail Ofori, who was featured by Legal Cheek in 2024 and went on to complete the bar course at City St George’s, University of London.

Beyond the financial award, recipients will receive mentoring from members of both chambers throughout the BPC and pupillage years. They will also get a leg-up in the pupillage application process, with guaranteed assessed mini-pupillage at 11KBW and a guaranteed first-round interview at 39 Essex, with the possibility of a full pupillage interview at 11KBW depending on their assessment score.

Black barristers remain particularly underrepresented across the profession, with the gap especially pronounced at the civil and commercial bar, precisely the territory where both sets operate. The Bar Council’s most recent Race at the Bar report called on the profession to “double down” and make faster progress.

Daniel Stilitz KC, head of chambers at 11KBW and Charlie Cory-Wright KC and Richard Harwood KC, joint heads of 39 Essex Chambers, said:

“We are delighted to announce this collaboration of our two Chambers. Together, we hope to make a real difference. We hope that this combined Scholarship will encourage many further talented Black law students to see their future at the Bar, and having so chosen, to go on to succeed at the Bar accordingly.”

The chambers have also announced the winners of the first scholarship under the new collaboration.

Kofo Boboye studied law at the London School of Economics, where she won the Dean’s Award for second best overall performance, before completing an LLM at Harvard Law School. At Harvard, she gained hands-on experience representing public housing tenants as a student attorney at the Harvard Tenant Advocacy Project, and she also volunteers as a Student Representative at the School Exclusion Project. She intends to practise at the public law bar.

Oluwatoni Adewole read law at the University of Cambridge, where he founded ‘Plato’s Cave’, Homerton College’s first debating society, and had work published in Per Incuriam, the Cambridge University Law Society’s flagship journal. He is currently working as a clinical negligence paralegal and intends to specialise in clinical negligence, personal injury and medical inquests.