Oxford law college sued: did not prepare failed graduate adequately

An Oxford graduate who failed tough legal exams is suing her law college for £100 000, claiming it did not prepare her adequately.

Maria Abramova says "clearly negligent" tuition resulted in her failing to qualify as a solicitor and later caused her to flunk the New York Bar Exam.

The 28-year-old, originally from Russia, claims she now finds it "psychologically difficult" to take legal exams and blames the college for her stalled legal career.

"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 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 element of her course.

Miss Abramova went to the UK 11 years ago having accumulated a variety of academic plaudits ' including the state's "silver medal for outstanding academic achievements".

Miss Abramova graduated from Oriel College, Oxford, in 2004 with a 2:1 in law then began a legal practitioner's course at the Oxford Institute of Legal Practice, aiming to become a solicitor.

But her barrister, Oliver Hyams, claimed the law college failed Ms Abra-mova by neglecting to provide "tuition in examination techniques" until she failed her first set of tests in May 2005.

The alleged lack of tuition was "clearly negligent", argued Mr Hyams, who added: "The defendant, if it was to comply with its part of the bargain between the parties, should have done something ' and not just nothing - to assist her with her examination techniques long before one month before the end of the course.

"Such help as was then given was going to have to be efficacious during a period when most staff were on holiday and at a time when further exams were imminent."

Although Miss Abramova re-took the examinations, and was successful in most components, the PLP element still eluded her and she finished her course still unqualified as a solicitor, the court heard.

Whatever exam technique tuition she received was provided too late in the day, said Mr Hyams, who told Mr Justice Burnett: "The claim is of a failure to provide appropriate tuition in examination techniques for the Legal Practice Course before the first set of compulsory written examination papers were taken by her, and then of inadequate assistance in relation to the re-taking of those failed exams".

Miss Abramova is claiming over £100 000 compensation from OXILP, who deny all liability.