Glasgow University law graduate Justine Siebenaler was told yesterday that she would no longer be able to pursue a career in law after she was found guilty of possessing Class A drugs at the ‘T in the Park’ festival last summer.
26 year-old Siebenaler – whose Linkedin profile (pictured below) says she believes in "maintaining a high level of integrity throughout my professional and private life" – had wept in the dock as a security officer described how she pulled two bags of drugs out of her underwear during a search at the entry point to the festival.
The security officer said: "They were acting very suspiciously. They wouldn't look us in the eyes. I told her I had suspicions and that what I was going to do was get the police. I said to her the best thing to do was to tell me what she had. She pulled bags from her trousers, from her underwear, and showed me what she had in the bags. There were five pink tablets and a substance that looked like herbal cannabis. She was starting to get upset and was crying.
"I remember her sitting and crying and telling me she was a law student. She was sitting for 10 minutes asking me not to call the police."
Another security officer who testified at the hearing added:
"We advised them the police would have to be called because they had refused a search. The female came forward and pulled something from her trousers. It was a bag of pink pills and also a bag of cannabis. She said she was studying to be a lawyer and stated this could go against her. She started getting very upset."
A second charge against Siebenaler, of possessing cannabis, was dropped by the Crown.
Siebenaler’s solicitor, David Holmes, said his client had recently graduated in law but that career path would "now be closed to her" as a result of her conviction.
The presiding judge, Eric Brown, said Siebenaler’s lawyer future would be a matter for the relevant legal professional body to decide, before fining Siebenaler £200.
According to STV News, Siebenaler had previously tried unsuccessfully to have the case against her thrown out when witnesses failed to turn up to give evidence. At that stage, her solicitor had said: "Her family have been concerned about her health over the last few months. There has been an obvious impact on the accused."
Personally, I don't think this should bar her from any legal career, and I hope it doesn't.
I don't think it should prevent her too. However, the reality is you are going to be on show as a lawyer. No one is going to want to hire someone with a criminal conviction, amongst hundreds or thousands of other applicants without a criminal record to date. Law firms are businesses and who is representing you is very much significant. The competition is stark as it is and I completely understand why she feels that this is the end of her venture in becoming a lawyer.
On the other hand, imagine a Barrister with a criminal record. Controversial. I like it.
She should defo be banned from becoming a lawyer. What if she was defending or prosecuting a drug dealer? Would she start smoking Class A drugs with him during a conference? Clearly somebody with such poor ethical and legal judgement is bringing the legal profession into disrepute.
Keep in mind that this is a crime that she was prosecuted for.
Poor girl. Grace of god and all that
I am especially pleased that her Facebook page has been published. I wonder if she shares my love of James Last.
I wholeheartedly agree with the tone of this article, and I will scrupulously demand nothing short of absolute moral perfection from everyone I now meet.
To this end I have built a house out of pure concrete and have not included any windows, hence making my stone throwing habit inconsequential.
I read this article in the paper as it lined the top of the page to provoke attention whilst in a very small section in the bottom right corner was a story of a man who had beaten an elderly women and stolen her walking sticks as she had offered him help... this must be a far lesser crime to commit as it only holds a very small section of the page and no doubt the criminal will be let off with a warning.... People need to take a long hard look at our society and consider what do they want people to be like? This girl has worked long and hard to gain her education and so what if she enjoys letting her hair down at a music festival. I for one would rather a human - with emotions, experiences and ambition- support me in a court case than someone who believes that it is right to ruin someones career for a little bit of publicity in the news. We are humans to live our lives not robots to follow procedures
This is an excellent comment. I wish people could focus on the good and important rather than trying to praise the attempted sensationalism of obnoxious gossip.
Absolutely agree with this comment.
I would defy a lot of 'professionals' that go to T in The Park to say that they haven't indulged in something similar......does this make them bad people, unable to carry out their jobs? It's their choice to indulge, yes, but doesn't life experience contribute to almost all professions these days?
I cannot help but wonder if the security team used the fact that she stated her profession, to make an example of her? There are sin bins at these events and the fact that she did admit to having something on her, should have been a slap on the wrist and her ticket removed, not a full blown court case and a career destroyed, not to mention the decline in the girls mental health.
Personally I feel sorry for this girl. I hope that the regulatory body decides not to bar her.
"She should defo be banned from becoming a lawyer. What if she was defending or prosecuting a drug dealer? Would she start smoking Class A drugs with him during a conference?"
The above is the dumbest thing I've ever read posted on the internet. And I've read the comments on YouTube.