An aspiring barrister who decided to set up a fundraising page to help him pay for his training said he was ‘gobsmacked’ after donations exceeded £9,000.

Lewis Dean, 32, was working as a nanny when he decided to pursue a legal career. He is due to graduate with a 2:1 after reading law at the University of Exeter and has been accepted for a full-time family pupillage with Magdalen Chambers, in Exeter.

‘To get pupillage in my third and final year is amazing,’ Dean said. But it was when looking into financing the bar course that Dean realised he would need to ask for help.

He decided to turn to the kindness of strangers and set up a GoFundMe page with a £16,000 target to cover the £14,500 bar course and any additional fees. More than 200 donors have given £9,467 since the page’s creation.

Lewis Dean

Dean: 'I hope my story resonates with other people'

Source: Lewis Dean

Dean said: ‘It is hard for low-economic members of society to fund the bar course. You can only get student finance for a post graduate loan if you opt for the masters on top. I thought, how am I going to fund this when the cost is between £14,500 to £17,500 if you’re in London.

‘For me, I do not have any parents anymore, it’s just me and my brothers.’

Dean’s mother died when he was 17, and unable to continue living with his stepfather, he moved into his own accommodation, provided by the local authority, with his younger brother.

He started working and became a nanny in 2012. He saved to pay for his A-Levels and then with the help of savings, working and student finance, started his law degree in 2020.

Asked about his decision to set up the fundraising page, Dean said: ‘I thought, I am going to have to ask for help and reach out to the wonderful UK and see if my story invokes something in others. I never thought I would get above £6,000 but I [could] take out a bank loan too. I have friends that have taken out bank loans to fund it.

‘I felt vulnerable speaking about something I have previously battled and got through and now people are going to know about that. When I get a donation, it feels a little overwhelming.

‘What I hope is that my story resonates with other people, other mature professionals thinking I cannot do it then they see this guy did it.

‘I am gobsmacked by the donations but it’s the stories, the connections and messages I received as a result that have meant so much.

‘You can feel quite alone in this journey in life and actually you are not. The money is fantastic and it’s all going on my bar course but it’s the connections, the people that I have connected with, which means so much.’

Dean sends every donor a personal message thanking them. ‘They have changed the trajectory of my life,’ he said.

Domestic violence, coercive control and child abuse are areas of the law Dean is interested in exploring.

He added: ‘I know I am going to help people in the future as a barrister. When I build my practice, I will set up a mature student fund. It’s a lifelong commitment. My mum was an incredible woman, she did not have a lot but gave so much to the community and that rubs off.’

To donate to Lewis’ bar course, which he starts in September, visit gofund.me/cef19bae.