The William & Mary Drapers’ Company Scholarship is an opportunity offered to all final year students in the School of Law. It is a chance to take an LLM course at the College of William & Mary, one of the oldest colleges in the USA. The scholarship is available annually to a Queen Mary LLB student to enable them to spend a year after graduation in the United States as a graduate student.
The Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William & Mary is one of the leading US law schools with nationally and internationally recognised experts in most fields of law and a reputation for producing lawyers who are not only highly skilled and successful attorneys, but dedicated public servants. The campus is situated surrounding woodland and based in downtown Williamsburg, Virginia and has a remarkable history. Thomas Jefferson helped found it 230 years ago and it was the first university in the United States to offer professional education in law.
The scholarship covers return air fare, all tuition fees, the cost of accommodation and food, and a stipend equivalent to the British postgraduate students' grant. The scholarship student will be able to enrol on a wide variety of law courses as part of the LLM offered by the Marshall-Wythe Law School.
Recipients of this scholarship have gone on to successful careers in:
To be considered for this scholarship, please email the following to the School of Law Scholarships and Bursaries team at law-scholarships-bursaries@qmul.ac.uk:
The deadline to apply is 10am on Tuesday 23rd January 2024. Interviews will take place in February.
If you have any queries related to this award, please email: law-scholarships-bursaries@qmul.ac.uk.
My academic experience so far at William & Mary has been a dream. It is everything I ever wished to have whenever I would pursue an LLM. There are no words to sufficiently express the gratitude I feel for studying at William & Mary Law School thanks to Queen Mary’s Drapers’ Company Scholarship.
I applied for the scholarship very eager to learn about and deeply understand the American legal system, its rationales, history, and development, as well as how American democratic, ethical, and cultural values are reflected in the law. Thus, it has been an enriching, enlightening, and instructional academic experience to take courses such as American constitutional law, company law, civil procedure, privacy law, and securities litigation, which are also my professional areas of interest.
Additionally, being originally from Romania and having studied in the UK and Austria (Erasmus year), not only I am in a unique position to compare, contrast, and constructively analyse these countries’ legal systems and how the same areas of law have developed differently in each country, but also I am in the privileged position to better understand holistically how these legal, political, and social systems function to various degrees of success despite being extremely different, how they influence, inspire, and relate to one another, and the role they play in the legal profession globally.
What makes it even more worthwhile to be here and not want my LLM to end is, first, the William & Mary Law School community, and second, Williamsburg itself. At William & Mary, I truly feel that I belong to the law school community, that our professors are committed to our long-term success and development as a legal professional, and that the school ensures we have everything we need to conduct our studies effectively in a welcoming, supportive, and resourceful academic environment. Williamsburg is the most beautiful historical town I have ever seen. Even after half a year here, I cannot get enough of the vividly green woods, the sound of birds singing throughout the day, the army of squirrels that patrols the town, the beautiful lakes, and the vibrant history everywhere around me. Williamsburg is truly an educational living museum and the perfect place to pursue an LLM degree after the busy years in a city like London.
As I am preparing to take the New York Bar Exam in July 2023 and kickstart my legal career in New York, I am convinced that my LLB education at Queen Mary and LLM at William & Mary have both prepared me extremely well for an international legal career and will continue to open many more doors and professional opportunities in the years to follow.
Andra TofanLLB English with European Law Graduate, Class of 2022