ASPIRING lawyer and Ripon Grammar School student Tom Cave has won a coveted prize in a prestigious Oxford University competition that attracted entries from all over the world.

Tom’s essay, which grappled with a complex legal issue, was selected from a competitive international field to win a place at the elite university’s online legal workshops.

He had to analyse, using legislative texts, how the law would apply to a case revolving around negligence for his entry to the Peter Cane Legal Reasoning Prize.

Corpus Christi College outreach officer Katharine Baysan said Tom’s entry was highly commended in a group of 84 particularly strong entries.

“It clearly engaged with the materials and sought to understand their meaning and effect,” she said.

The Ripon Sixth Form student, who volunteers at Ripon Walled Garden, was praised for his essay's strength of argument and clarity of writing.

Tom, from Burton Leonard, has also begun virtual work experience with international corporate law firm White & Case over lockdown.

He said: “Although the tasks are rigorous and difficult, they are hugely informative and give me an insight into commercial law which I hope to go into in the future.”