Twenty-two year old Wendy Richardson's fascination with the law began while pursuing her Bachelor of Commerce degree at St. Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. At the time, she saw her future as "in the corporate arena", particularly following two years' study in the Bermuda College associate in Business Administration programme, where she excelled in marketing. However, among her first-year university courses was one on commercial law, and Miss Richardson loved it. Further exposure to the practical side of law during holiday breaks at home, when she worked part time at Coutts (Bermuda) Ltd., increased this love, yet commerce remained her principal focus. In fact, during her final year at university she was even considering going on to obtain her Master's degree in Business Administration (MBA) until another commercial law course proved the clincher.

"I said, `This is it'," Miss Richardson says. "After much prayer and thought I concluded that Law was something I genuinely loved and was more interested in, but I also knew that having a commerce degree would not be a downfall, especially in Bermuda because corporate law is growing rapidly, and a commerce background would actually assist me within the corporate law arena. In the end, it all worked out wonderfully, and God showed me that I was on the right track."

Following her graduation from St. Mary's, Miss Richardson returned home and enrolled in the University of Kent law degree programme at Bermuda College because it was financially advantageous to complete the first part here. The astute former Berkeley Institute graduate was under no illusions, however. From the first day she knew it would be no easy ride, and she would have to take the workload seriously - something she was more than prepared to do. In fact, she elected to compress the two-year course into one, which meant she could not hold a full-time job but instead would have to rely on her parents to support her. Nonetheless, she still had to earn her own money for incidentals, so she worked on Fridays - her one day off - at Coutts (Bermuda) Ltd.

Miss Richardson set about her new-found goal with enthusiasm. She attended every class, downloaded every professor's lecture off the University of Kent website, read every book, completed every assignment, and burned a lot of midnight oil in the process. She also spent countless hours in the Bermuda College library, whose staff, she says, were "helpful and compassionate", as was Sarah Carter, the University of Kent's librarian.

"Miss Aubrey (head librarian) was awesome in helping because she knew what we were up against," she says.

With so much reading, lectures to attend, and assignments to complete each week, Miss Richardson knew that to fall behind would be fatal, so she remained focused and diligent.

"The course required so much discipline and study. We had evening classes four times a week, and we had deadlines because we were on the same regime as the resident students at the University of Kent," she says. "You had to be persistent and focussed. It forced you to excel in areas that will aid you throughout your whole life," she says.

For this young woman, pursuing her goal clearly meant considerable sacrifice. Unlike many of her peers, who could enjoy themselves whenever they wanted to, her relaxation was restricted to Friday nights and church on Sundays. Yet not once did she find that a burden. On the contrary, the more she learned the more interesting Law became to her, and she ploughed on in the certain faith that whatever it took, she would get there. And so she did.

On July 30 Miss Richardson will take her place among her fellow students at a special ceremony at Bermuda College, where she will receive her Pass with Merit Certificate in Law in Society from the University of Kent for a hard year's work. In September she will move on to the UK campus to complete the final two years of the four-year LL.B (law degree) programme.

"I've never been to England before, but I am really looking forward to being on a campus again," she says. "After coming from St. Mary's, I missed the social communication of being in the classroom and having face to face contact with my teachers and my fellow students in a campus environment. Here, there were only two students that I could communicate with, so that is something I will definitely appreciate. Also, the law library at the University of Kent has unlimited resources, which is something else I will be looking forward to."

Looking back on the course, Miss Richardson has nothing but praise for its content, Miss Solange Saltus, coordinator of the University of Kent programme, the local lecturers and Bermuda College staff, as well as the interaction with the University of Kent.

"I enjoyed it all. It is definitely good for those who are here and have family. Being around the local student body was also helpful. I am a very focussed person and it was nice to be around other people who were also focussed because that helped. Also, through those enrolled in the programme, I was able to make contact with people who are permanent members of the community, and that was a great opportunity."

Despite her years of study, the 22-year-old says that it was the law course which changed her the most, and developed qualities which will stand her in good stead throughout her life.

"I was not always a dedicated student, and this course helped me a lot in maturing both academically and as an individual."

Miss Richardson feels, too, that she has gained more in the year at Bermuda College than students who completed their first year at the University of Kent.

"I spoke to some of them, and it seems our course was a lot harder and more comprehensive," she says.

Certainly, she is delighted with her result.

"I knew I had put the work in, but I didn't realise I was going to do that well. I accomplished more than I expected, and in that respect it has helped me to appreciate that prayer works," she says. "It definitely showed me that sacrifice pays off, and in the end it is all worth it."

In the short term, Miss Richardson will conclude her work experience with law firm Appleby, Spurling and Kempe, where she has been mentored by partner James Keyes, and whose assistance she describes as "tremendous", and head over to XL Capital's legal department for the rest of the summer to continue broadening her work experience.

As for the future, the avid student says that, once she has completed her degree at the University of Kent, she plans to go on to do her Master's degree in Business Administration, because "it's only one year, after all" and it will give her yet another qualification so that when she does finally return home, her avenues of opportunity will be greater, to say nothing of her earning power.

Forty-two-year-old Tony Hay enrolled in the University of Kent law degree programme at the Bermuda College for two reasons: He had always been interested in the law, and he also saw the course as a personal challenge. A professional insurance underwriter with 24 years' experience, he had taken career-related examinations over time, but admits they were not nearly as difficult compared to this course.

Unlike Miss Richardson, Mr. Hay could not devote himself to his studies on a full time basis. Instead, he embarked on the standard two-year approach, fitting his course work into his evenings and weekends. Married to Doree, with a new baby, Conor, arriving in the midst of his studies last December, plus a new, full-time job and mortgage, meant that he really had juggle his responsibilities, but he always kept his goal in mind.

"It was more challenging than I thought, and it took up about 15 hours a week," he says. "You could easily spend most of the weekend doing it, but overall I found the course very enjoyable. It certainly wasn't a chore. When I first started my only aim was to finish the course and pass the examination, but as I got into it during the first year I managed to get high marks in the assessments a few times and then I got high marks in the exams, so I became very interested in getting a Distinction because I knew it was possible, so that became my aim. In fact, I would have been disappointed if I didn't get it because I knew I could do it."

In fitting the demands of the course into his life, Mr. Hay pays tribute to his wife and Bermuda College lecturers for helping him through.

"For the whole time Doree was very supportive and understanding about the time I needed to spend studying, and it was only for that reason that I was able to finish the course and make a success of it," he says.

"Without that kind of understanding you couldn't contemplate starting something like this because of the personal investment in time. Also, the seminar lecturers were very interested in making sure that we did well in our exams. In fact, one or two of them seemed to take it personally, which was great because it meant they were motivated to make sure you understood the course properly."

Somehow, the insurance underwriter juggled all the balls correctly, and gained the coveted Pass with Distinction Certificate in Law in Society from the University of Kent, just as he had always planned.

He is, in fact, the only Bermuda student in the programme to accomplish this thus far. Unfortunately, however, the honour has come at the wrong time at his life, and for the foreseeable future he has no plans to complete the degree programme, preferring instead to put his family and career first. He does not, however, rule it out "some day".

Asked what he gained from the course, apart from a deeper insight into the law, Mr. Hay says it proved to him that he could succeed as a mature student, and he also felt that some aspects of what he learned would be useful in his insurance career.

"I started when I was 40 and I wondered whether it was wise because it has been a long time since I have really studied something that took this much commitment, but I wasn't the only mature student," Mr. Hay says. "In fact most of the people on the course were at least in their 20s and beyond, and they were all very motivated and intelligent people. Working in insurance helped me with a lot of the concepts that came up in the course, and working with the other students was also very helpful because we were all working on the same subjects at the same time."

Like Miss Richardson, Mr. Hay recommends the course to anyone who is interested in studying Law.

"I honestly thought it was very intensive and at a much higher level, perhaps because it was just about the law rather than more general study," he says.