University of Richmond junior received Gilman Scholarship to study law in England

Sabrina Gaytan Lopez watched mesmerized from her perch in the public gallery as barristers bedecked in white wigs and black robes argued two cases in the Royal Courts of Justice in London. Afterwards, the junior and her classmates met with a British solicitor who had prepared one of the cases. An iconic symbol of British jurisprudence, the Royal Courts of Justice are housed in an ornate, grey-stone Victorian building in Westminster and are home to the High Court and the Court of Appeal of England and Wales.

“It was fascinating to watch the trials in person,” Gaytan Lopez said. “It was just like what you see in the movies!”

The Royal Courts of Justice visit was part of Jepson at Cambridge, a summer program offered by the Jepson School of Leadership Studies in collaboration with the University of Richmond School of Law. Undergraduate and law students spend five weeks studying at Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge, participating in classes, lectures, and out-of-town trips to examine law and leadership in an international context. Gaytan Lopez received the U.S. Department of State's Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship to join the program.

“I’m considering attending law school, and this experience strengthened my interest in criminal law,” said the leadership studies and political science major and law and the liberal arts minor. “One of my classes focused on the codes behind criminal law, how the United Kingdom treats misdemeanors and felonies. In my final paper, I compared a code in U.K. law to a code in U.S. law.

“My other class looked at how individual European countries set their own laws and how they compromise when setting laws for the European Union. We also debated whether Brexit was the right move for the United Kingdom or whether it should have remained in the European Union.”

When not studying U.K. and EU law, Gaytan Lopez immersed herself in British culture. She sampled the ubiquitous fish and chips and attended her first professional theater performance — "The Great Gatsby,” starring American actor Corbin Bleu — in London. She particularly enjoyed English teatime.

“I loved going to the Orchard Tea Garden,” Gaytan Lopez said of a teahouse known for its idyllic garden setting. “It was about an hour’s stroll from Cambridge through the English countryside to the village of Grantchester. Along the way, I’d pass green pastures framed by weeping willows and streams.”

This summer, she said she hopes to continue her exploration of the law by securing an internship with a legal focus. She also plans to visit the K-12 Catholic school she attended in Mexico, which was a 20-minute drive from her childhood home in Laredo, Texas.

 “The school I attended has a predominantly Latino student body,” she said. “Traveling abroad is not easily accessible for many of the students. I will make a presentation to the middle school students on how I studied in the U.K. as a Gilman Scholar. I want them to know about options for students like me and like them to travel and explore.”