The 2021 Final Year Stowe Family Law Prize Winner Announced
Congratulations to Jasdeep Dhariwal, the winner of the final year 2021 Stowe Family Law prize. Jasdeep is the highest performing final year student in Aston Law School’s Family Law module.
In recognition of Jasdeep’s outstanding performance, she has been offered a cash prize of £500 from Stowe Family Law.
Angela Stanhope, the leader of the family law module, adds her congratulations and says that the prize reflects Jasdeep’s high standard of work and commitment to her studies during this difficult year.
“It’s a pleasure to award Jasdeep the Stowe Family Law Prize. Her exceptional accomplishment as the highest performing final year student is an achievement to be very proud of. Well done on behalf of everyone at Stowe Family Law!” - Rebecca Calden-Storr, Managing Partner at Stowe Family Law
Read Jasdeep's interview below to find out about her interest in family law:
What sparked your interest in family law?
In the summer following first year, I undertook a week of work experience within a family law firm specialising in child protection. I had no interest in family law prior to this, but as the week progressed I grew to learn how impactful on everyday life family law really is. One of the partners of the firm explained to me that her passion in the field is fuelled by her wanting to protect the children she represented. She told me of a number of children whose lives she had changed for the better through her representation.
At this point, I had already selected my modules for my second year and family law was not one of them. Needless to say, when the final year module selection became available, family law was my first choice.
What do you like most about family law?
Family law translates very directly into everyday life, more so than I had even anticipated. Throughout the year, I realised how connected to personal life the law is. While a lot of the other modules I have studied seem to separate emotion from the law, due to the nature of family law and the weight that the word ‘family’ has in our society – the law is compassionate. Not so much that it becomes capricious, but enough that it respects the feelings of the people involved. From divorce law avoiding further conflict between divorcing parties, to the actual wants of children in child care cases being taken into consideration.
This extra care taken to ensure the legislation would help rather than hinder parties is what draws me to this area of law.
Do you think your interest in family law will remain now you have graduated?
Yes, one of the areas I noticed needed improvements during my studies were the rules on no fault divorce. This is currently being updated and I am interested to see how this unfolds.
Are there any other areas of law that interest you?
I studied criminal law during my first year, and my interest has remained prevalent ever since. I would even go as far as to suggest this led into my interest in family law due to the similarities in the nature of both laws. Although, I cannot yet confirm the area of law I may specialise in later in life as after completing a year in industry in the commercial arena; I found that I would like to experience more areas of law to find which I enjoy the most in practice.
Visiting Professional Fellow
Aston Law School is pleased to announce that for the upcoming academic year, Rebecca Calden-Storr, Managing Partner at Stowe Family Law’s Birmingham office, has been appointed as a Visiting Professional Fellow in Aston Law School. She will be associated with the Family Law module and our Professional Mentoring Programme.