Jones & Martin legal scholarship.

Ms Blanchette, 22, received the $10,000 cheque at a ceremony marking the scholarship, which was established in 1998 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Call to the Bar of Peter J.C. Smith.

Mr. Smith and partners, Michael Mello and Andrew Martin, with the help of Karen Skiffington-Simpson chose the winner from a field of 13 applicants.

"Judging by the people we saw, the future of the legal profession is in good hands,'' Mr. Smith said.

Ms Blanchette will attend the College of Law in Guildford, Surrey.

Ms Blanchette is the daughter of Margaret and Stanley Blanchette of Smith's Parish.

The former Warwick Academy student attended Bromsgrove School from 1994 to 1996 and the University of Kent at Canterbury where she completed a BA (Hons) degree in Politics and International Relations.

Scholarship winner: Karen Blanchette receives a cheque for $10,000 from Mello, Hollis, Jones & Martin's consultant Peter J.C. Smith MBE. Also pictured, from left, are partners Andrew Martin and Michael Mello who with Mr. Smith comprised the firm's Scholarship Selection Committee.