A student who claims her legal career was jinxed by an Oxford's law college's failure to prepare her adequately for gruelling professional exams today launched a unique £100,000 High Court compensation bid.
Maria Abramova claims staff at the Oxford Institute of Legal Practice let her down by failing to coach her in crucial exam techniques before she flunked her first set of exams in May 2005.
But the Institute is fighting the case and hotly disputes her allegations.
The 28-year-old Oxford University graduate says her experiences at the Institute (OXILP) left her with a critical blind spot in tackling exams, contributing to her failing the coveted New York bar examinations three years ago.
'I recently decided not to retake that examination,' she told the court, adding: 'This is because I have found it psychologically difficult to take legal examinations following my experiences on the Course and subsequently, at OXILP'.
And although the gifted linguist has managed to carve out a career as a paralegal with a UK firm specialising in aviation law, she says she still feels haunted by her failure to qualify as a solicitor because she never passed the Property Law and Practice (PLP) element of her course.
Ms Abramova, who is Russian-born, came to the UK 11 years ago having accumulated a variety of academic plaudits - including the state's 'silver medal for outstanding academic achievements'.
Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1352481/Oxford-graduate-Maria-Abramova-sues-law-college-100k.html#ixzz1CjWivrRT