This article was originally published in Counsel Magazine and can be read in full here: A ‘10K Black Interns’ experience at the Bar | COUNSEL | The Magazine of the Bar of England and Wales (counselmagazine.co.uk)
Championing underrepresented talent, 10K Black Interns 2024 is open for applications. Mentee Tendai Chiguvare and mentor Anna Walsh share their experience of the summer internship scheme at the Bar
Anna Walsh:
“Coram Chambers has been involved in the ‘10,000 Black Interns and the Bar’ initiative for some years now, so I was delighted when asked if I would mentor Tendai Chiguare for a week as part of it.
I have always been committed to offering what time I can to law students and, with that, a slightly different perspective on a path to the Bar as mine was somewhat unconventional: I was a nurse for six years before I qualified as a solicitor. After 10 years, I transferred and was called to the Bar in 2013. I was the first person in my family to go to university, and in my early years at the Bar, the lack of diversity struck me, something I had not experienced in the NHS.
Which is why I share 10,000 Interns’ vision for change, both within and outside of law. If people see a welcoming and accessible culture and later experience this, they are more likely to enjoy their career and succeed. This will not only increase diversity and inclusion, but it will ultimately lead to public benefit, with law better reflecting the diversity of our society when society needs it most”.
