Canon Collins Trust

In 2000, Leigh Day & Co awarded the first three scholarships in conjunction with the Canon Collins Trust and the University of Western Cape. The scholarships are for black students to study law in South Africa and covers their tuition and residence fees for the duration of their studies.

The Canon Collins Trust is a charity that was founded in 1981 to help southern Africa refugee students to gain the higher education and training denied them under the apartheid system by funding their attendance at institutions in the UK and independent African states.  It was founded by John Collins, priest and political crusader, who was Canon of St Paul's Cathedral for 33 years. A radical cleric at the heart of Britain's establishment church, he was well known for his leadership of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and the Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa.   After the collapse of apartheid and the release of Nelson Mandela, the Trust developed a scholarship programme in South Africa predominantly at historically disadvantaged institutions.  Today the Trust contributes to development by building the knowledge and skills of local people and communities through higher education scholarships and educational programmes in ten southern African countries.

The trust has helped us to set up this scholarship scheme at the University of Western Cape, which we feel reinforces our commitment to the country and to the education of a future generation of South Africans. So far twelve students have received funding from the scheme, including eight women, mature students and a visually impaired student who passed all of his exams in 2002 with a distinction aggregate. Three of our students have featured on the Dean's Merit List.

We continue to fund students (such as Henalicia September pictured left) who are beginning to study for their LLB. All the students are from deprived backgrounds either from the Cape Flats, where the first language is Afrikaans, or from rural areas in the Eastern Cape, where their first language is Xhosa. The University runs special courses in the first year such as English, political studies and legal research and writing, which allow students from these backgrounds to catch up with those from more privileged backgrounds.

We hope that the scholarship scheme plays some part in addressing the problem of black lawyers being under-represented in the legal profession in South Africa, and at least, that it has a positive effect on the lives of those on the scheme. As one of the students wrote: "The scholarship literally changed my life."

“Grossly inferior education was a key apartheid strategy in order to entrench black subservience. For 25 years Canon Collins Trust has been at the forefront of the struggle to redress that imbalance. We are proud to be associated with it and are delighted to reiterate our long-term commitment to the Law scholarships the Trust has so ably administered on our behalf.” Russell Levy, Leigh Day partner.