Why alumnus Michael Barron donates to Edinburgh Law School
Wed 12 March 2025
Michael Barron grew up in Glasgow as the son of a primary school teacher and an electrician who went on to become a telecommunications engineer. “They were both the sort of people who would have gone to university if they had the opportunity,” he says, but growing up just after the Second World War, those opportunities didn’t exist for them. Michael himself made it to university against the odds from a school with a low percentage of pupils going on to higher education – those who did, stayed close to home.
When Michael decided that he wanted to study law in Edinburgh, he was met with confusion by his teachers who could not understand why he did not choose Glasgow University, but remained steadfast in his decision. “It seems to me that the natural seat of all things legal in Scotland is Edinburgh,” Michael adds. So, he arrived at Edinburgh Law School and, with the help of a grant and working through the holidays to make money, he graduated in 1975.
After that, he worked as a lawyer in general practice in Edinburgh, moving to London and into corporate law in 1987. “I did really well and I wouldn’t have got there if it hadn’t been for a legal education,” he says. As he cemented himself in the legal profession, the amount of state assistance for students was reducing, so Michael decided to do something to help students who wouldn’t otherwise be able to go to university. Since 2005, that’s exactly what he’s done at the University of Edinburgh.
Michael has been funding the Barron Bursary for 19 years. His bursary focuses on supporting first-generation university students by giving them an opportunity to study law. He visits the University at least once a year and tries to meet up with the students he has supported, just to see how they are doing. “I always say to them that they don’t need to go into the legal profession as a career; a legal degree is a great starting point for a wide variety of careers in business and finance as well as the law,” he says.
Michael finds giving students an opportunity that would otherwise have been out of reach a rewarding experience. He emphasises: “If you’ve got the financial means to help someone, it does make you feel good.” Michael recognises that alumni donations like his can make the difference between a student going to university or not. “What I’m trying is to get people to university who would not be going because of finances,” he concludes.
Michael retired from the legal profession in 2015, but is ensuring that future generations can access education with a reduced financial burden. Thank you, Michael, for your consistent support and investment in legal education at Edinburgh Law School.