The Exploring Law Conference (formerly known as the Cambridge Sixth Form Law Conference) was held at the Faculty of Law between 7-10 April, marking the 50th anniversary of the running of the event. The Conference was established to provide Year 12 (Y13 NI/S5 Scotland) students a balanced view of Law as an academic subject as well as a profession and offer an insight into life as a Cambridge undergraduate student.
The Conference was a great success and the delegates had a fantastic experience attending taster lectures and engaging in workshops with current legal professionals from the Faculty’s partner firms and chambers, all while staying at 6 Cambridge Colleges.
The Conference takes place as a four-day residential experience, which brings 250 delegates to Cambridge. The event was organised by the Faculty's Outreach, Widening Participation and Communications Coordinator Maria Kazani alongside the student-led Exploring Law Conference Committee constituted from current undergraduate Law students.
Of the 250 delegates, 150 are students who meet widening participation criteria and thus qualify for fully-funded places, which are generously funded by our Access and Widening Participation Partner firms – Clifford Chance, Hogan Lovells, Slaughter and May, and Maitland Chambers. This year, all students (fee-paying and fully-funded) were chosen through a rigorous process and among a pool of 1250 applicants who had to present their interest for the course and future plans in a comprehensive application form.
I was really nervous when I applied and actually got a place however coming to the conference has built my confidence in both law and applying to Cambridge and what it could be like. 2025 Conference delegate
Prioritising students who met several widening participation criteria (including the fee-paying group) resulted in an extremely diverse Conference delegation, which reaches a number of the Faculty's targets. Over 50% of participants were eligible for Free School Meals, and 88% of the delegation came from maintained-sector schools.
The Faculty is proud to have worked with the Conference Committee for half a century in reaching out to prospective students and opening the gates of access to the study of Law and the Cambridge educational experience. There is a long history of Conference attendees subsequently successfully applying to study at the Faculty.