Beyond education: Building belonging in Law

How does the Law School support students from widening participation backgrounds once they arrive at King’s and ensure that they thrive during their time with us?

At the Law School, our support for students from widening participation (WP) backgrounds is designed to be sustained, holistic and embedded at relevant moments throughout the student journey. We organise this support around three key pathways: (i) skills support, (ii) careers support, and (iii) community and belonging.

• Skills support focuses on helping our WP students build confidence and capability in the core academic legal and study skills needed to succeed within the discipline. We aim to ensure that all students feel equipped to navigate the expectations of degree‑level work.
• Careers support ensures that WP students have access to bespoke opportunities and guidance from the very start of their degree. Working closely with Careers & Employability, we offer our students the chance to build their knowledge, networks and confidence, so that they can make informed decisions about their future careers. Alongside careers guidance, we also provide financial support to remove barriers to participation. For example, we have a bursary which provides funding assistance to eligible students to allow them to undertake internships, placements, or other activities that would otherwise be financially inaccessible. This not only widens access to career‑shaping experiences but helps ensure that it is talent, and not financial means, which determines who can pursue opportunities.
• Community and belonging is central to all students thriving. At the Law School, we work to foster inclusive classroom practices, supportive personal tutoring, and encourage student‑led communities. It is vital that our students feel recognised and valued as individuals and connected to each other, to staff, and to the wider King’s community.

Together, these pathways help ensure that WP students can develop their strengths and thrive academically and personally, both whilst they are with us and once they leave us.

Why is it important that our widening participation work continues beyond admissions and outreach?

Widening participation is not achieved at the point of offer. It must extend to successful participation and outcomes. Students from under‑represented backgrounds face hidden curricula, financial pressures, cultural barriers, and reduced access to professional networks. Without ongoing support, gaps in attainment, feelings of belonging, and graduate outcomes can widen even after entry.

This is something I recognise personally. As a high‑achieving WP student in secondary education, I had always been encouraged to believe that academic success alone would carry me forward. But when I arrived at law school, I found myself feeling unexpectedly out of place, very unsure of the unwritten expectations, unfamiliar with the culture and without the confidence of many of my peers. I didn’t know how to access the kinds of opportunities that others seemed to navigate with ease. That sense of disorientation serves to remind me that admission is not the same as inclusion. Genuine participation and feelings of belonging require structures that help students understand and feel at home within our community.

Continuing WP support is therefore essential to ensuring that the Law School is not only diverse in who it attracts, but that it provides for all students what they need to thrive once they are with us.

What opportunities or initiatives do we offer through our widening participation work that can support students in developing legal skills?

Through our WP activity we offer structured opportunities designed to specifically help students build their core legal skills in a supportive environment. This includes various additional academic skills sessions focused on how to engage with case law and academic journal articles, how to write effective legal essays and how to realistically manage time as a busy law student. We offer access to experiential learning opportunities that allow students to practise real‑world problem‑solving.

We also collaborate with external partners to deliver skills‑focused sessions such as advocacy workshops. These help students build confidence and gain early insight into the expectations of the profession. These opportunities form part of a bespoke support offering for our WP students and are designed with inclusivity in mind, recognising that not all students can afford additional paid courses or external training.

How do we support widening participation students in exploring opportunities to develop their future careers? 

We support them by deliberately creating opportunities to make those unwritten rules visible and then demystify them. For example, our conversations with legal professionals such as Meera Patel (alumna) give students direct insight into the realities of the profession and provide visible role models who speak openly about navigating the sector as someone from a non‑traditional background. Initiatives such as the Blackstone Chambers shadowing opportunities offer first‑hand exposure to the Bar, an area of the profession students may assume is closed to them without the right networks, guidance and support.

Our visits to the Inns of Court show students what these spaces look and feel like, breaking down the sense of otherness and ‘this isn’t for people like me’ that many WP students report. Likewise, the sessions delivered by solicitors give students informal access to practitioners, helping build familiarity with the expectations, skills, and decision‑making that shape legal careers.

Why is it important that we offer opportunities to access these kinds of professional experiences?

There is encouraging evidence to demonstrate that diversity within the legal sector is gradually improving, with more students from under‑represented backgrounds entering legal education and progressing into the profession each year. However, meaningful change in this area requires continued commitment, and the sector remains one where an awareness of expectations and unwritten rules is rewarded. Students from under‑represented backgrounds may not have family or social connections within the sector and can, therefore, face a higher threshold in understanding how to navigate these.

Providing WP students with tailored professional experiences helps to counter these barriers by giving them access to the kinds of role models and early exposure that often shape career decisions and progression. In doing so, we aim to narrow not only gaps in academic outcomes but also disparities in long‑term professional opportunities, contributing, quite literally, to changing the face of the sector over time. We are very lucky to work with collaborators in the legal sector who feel just as passionately about this as we do.

How do we ensure that all our students, regardless of their background, feel a sense of belonging at King’s and the Law School?

Fostering a strong sense of belonging is fundamental to widening participation, because belonging is closely tied to the development of a positive academic identity. This relates to a student’s internalised belief that they are capable and valued within their discipline. For many WP students, particularly those who are first‑generation or who may not see themselves reflected in traditional images of the legal profession, the absence of belonging can translate into self‑doubt, reduced confidence, and disengagement leading to poorer student attainment and outcomes. Yet, when students feel recognised and included, they are much more likely to participate actively and take intellectual risks. The research also suggests that they are also more likely to seek support when needed and imagine themselves progressing within the field. Research across the sector consistently shows that a strong sense of belonging is associated with improved academic engagement, higher attainment, and more positive graduate outcomes. In this sense, belonging is not an abstract ideal. It is a practical and measurable contributor to closing existing gaps in progression and achievement. By investing in inclusive teaching, support, and community‑building, we are directly strengthening our students’ academic identity and, alongside it, their long‑term success.

At the Law School, belonging is built through a combination of inclusive teaching, representation, and community. We prioritise:

• curriculum design that reflects diverse perspectives and identities
• support for student‑led societies and peer-support networks
• accessible pastoral support, and
• a learning environment where all students are encouraged to bring their full selves

Inclusive education practices are embedded in our everyday interactions within the School, and are not treated as an optional extra.

What are your hopes for how widening participation support at the Law School can continue to develop?

Looking forward, my hope is that our WP work continues to expand, become better informed by key data and allows us to provide even more early‑intervention support. Increasing opportunities for student voice and co‑creation will also be essential to ensuring that our offering continues to develop holistically, speaking directly to our students and their needs as individuals, Alongside this, we will continue to strengthen long‑term relationships with our external legal partners, thus ensuring that every student has equal access to the skills, networks, and, ultimately, the confidence needed to thrive both academically and professionally.

Ultimately, my hope is that our WP support becomes not simply a set of discrete projects, but rather a defining feature of who we are as a Law School.