Bar student loses out on resits by just one mark

FORMER Inns of Court School of Law student Matthew Ricks has been forced to drop plans for a career at the Bar after the Council of Legal Education refused him a second resit on a module he failed by a single mark.

Ricks, who asked the CLE to use its discretionary powers to grant another resit, had intended to appeal but was deterred by warnings from CLE lawyers Stitt & Co that he could face hefty costs orders.

Ricks, a former Leicester University student who was supported by two QCs and a circuit judge and had the offer of a pupillage placement for his first six months, is now planning to take up an unconditional offer of a place on the Legal Practice Course. He is still seeking articles.

Ricks says he is "extremely bitter" at the CLE's stand, which he says failed to take into account his extra-curricular activities for the Bar.

"To be failed after seven years by a single mark on one of the least important aspects of the course is really unfair," he says.