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Renell Harding was awarded the Lord Blunkett Widening Access Award scholarship to study at The University of Law in 2019 after raising £11,000 through a Crowdfunder.
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At age 13, Renell was made homeless and spent six months “sofa surfing” with his family.
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Now a paralegal, Renell wants to use his journey to inspire and mentor others like him.
At the age of just 13-years-old, Renell Harding was made homeless and forced to spend six months sofa surfing between the homes of his mother’s friends and temporary accommodation. Fast-forward to the present day and Renell is trailblazing a successful career in law, with a determination to help more people like him into the industry.
Born in 1998 in Brent, Renell experienced hardship from a young age where domestic violence was commonplace. At school, a diagnosis of autism and speech difficulties hindered Renell’s confidence.
Renell says: “Having that diagnosis was always necessary but it made me so aware I was different. I was put in a nursery for children with additional special educational needs and then went onto a language unit in primary school, because of my neuro divergence.
“While all of this helped to give me the support I need, it impacted my confidence as I always knew I was behind the other kids. This meant I lost confidence and motivation, so would often do the bare minimum to get by.
“By year seven I’d lost all confidence. In secondary school I was in mainstream classes but receiving additional support. While I was always well-behaved, I never applied myself as I just didn’t have the confidence to.”
By the end of year eight, after years spent working multiple jobs, Renell’s mother, sister and himself were all evicted, leaving them homeless overnight. With no fixed address, the family were left “sofa-surfing” with friends of his mum or staying in B&Bs and temporary accommodation.
Speaking of this time, Renell says: “Experiencing homelessness is one of the most dehumanising things. It feels shameful and embarrassing. I would go to school and never mention a thing to teachers or friends, because I was too embarrassed by it. I recognised from an early age that we were disadvantaged, which started to light a fire in my belly to achieve academically so I could succeed as I got older.”
From then on Renell’s approach to education changed entirely, going on to achieve success in his GCSEs and A-Levels, before setting his sights on a career in law aged 18.
Renell completed five legal internships alongside studying for a history degree, building up enviable experience by the time he graduated.
However, upon graduating came yet another hurdle. Renell found himself with no funding to study the GDL and no training contract. He says: “I was very aware that it was up to me to make it happen. Like many others I didn’t have the backing or support of a wealthy family to help, so I applied myself and launched a Crowdfunder to help fund my further studies.”
Renell raised £11,000 through his Crowdfunder before it was noticed by The University of Law, which then offered the £2,000 Lord Blunkett Widening Access Award Scholarship to study with them alongside a support payment of several thousands of pounds.
After studying his GDL with ULaw, Renell is now carving out a career as a paralegal with his sights firmly on getting a training contract. Not only this, but Renell also wants to use his story to attract more people like him into a career in law, an industry which he says still needs to do more to diversify.
“I haven’t met many people like me in this industry. While there are organisations such as Black Men in Law, STRIVE and NRG Lawyers that are all doing amazing work to diversify the legal profession, a lot more needs to be done by law firms to not only attract Black talent from low socio-economic backgrounds into law but also focus on retaining Black talent too.
“I have big, bold opinions and ideas and I want to make change. Firms need to be more genuine in their efforts and the efforts need to be sustainable and long-lasting if we are to really make positive steps forward. I want to see law firms with more of a presence in schools and colleges in disadvantaged areas, that’s where I was first inspired and that’s where you’ll find the hidden talent of the next generation of lawyers.
“Ultimately now I want to use my journey to influence change in this industry. While I already mentor three young Black people in my spare time, I want to also mentor young Black aspiring legal professionals and hopefully have some influence on how graduate recruitment teams market their law firms to better attract young Black aspiring lawyers, so we can start to see truly diverse talent pools in the legal industry.”
To find out more about our scholarships, bursaries and funding support available to our students, visit: https://www.law.ac.uk/study/scholarships-bursaries/