Category Archives: Pupillage

Why Charging Students For Pupillage Application Advice Is Both ‘Unedifying’ And ‘Understandable’

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I have been following the saga involving the Tooks Chambers barristers' pupillage advice event with great interest, writes OccupyTheInns.

The comments from students who attended the event that have appeared on Legal Cheek over the course of the weekend have been rather interesting. Waxing lyrical in their praise of what appears to be a high quality experience, one (see below) even suggested that the original £186 price would have been a fair sum to pay if the event had not been made free-of-charge.

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Tooksgate: Michael Mansfield Releases Statement Saying He ‘Would Not Knowingly Have Become Involved In An Event That Charged Students’

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Michael Mansfield QC, the star speaker at the now notorious paid-for pupillage application advice event, has released a statement distancing himself from the organisers. Awkwardly, those organisers, Naeem Mian and Sultana Tafadar, are both barristers at Tooks Chambers – the set which Mansfield leads...

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Was £186, now it’s free! Tooks Barristers’ Pupillage Advice Event Price Slashed to £0

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The now notorious £186 'How to get a pupillage' event being put on by two Tooks Chambers barristers has been made completely free. The news follows Legal Cheek's exclusive story on Friday which revealed that Tooks duo Naeem Mian and Sultana Tafadar are directors of the company behind the event, Osbourne McKenna Limited...

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Tooks QC Distances Himself From Colleagues’ ‘Ground Breaking’ How-To-Get-A-Pupillage Money Making Venture – But Mansfield Still Scheduled To Speak

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On Friday we revealed that the directors of the company behind an event charging wannabe barristers for pupillage application advice are Tooks Chambers barristers Naeem Mian and Sultana Tafadar. Not keen to be associated with such behaviour, one of Tooks' star silks, Hugh Southey QC, today took to Twitter with the aim of distancing himself and his chambers from the venture.

No one, it seems, had shown Southey the whopping great ad for the event plastered on Tooks' website. In it, the top civil liberties set labels the paid-for pupillage application and interview session as "ground breaking"...

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Tooks Chambers Barristers Start Company That Charges Bar Hopefuls £186 Each For Pupillage Application Advice From Michael Mansfield QC

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When criminal barristers talk of having to diversify in order to survive, it's generally assumed that they mean developing expertise in different areas of the law. The expectation isn't that they would, say, start up a company that charges wannabe barristers £186 a pop to receive advice on 'How to get a pupillage'. But that is what Tooks Chambers barristers Naeem Mian and Sultana Tafadar have done, enlisting their head of chambers, Michael Mansfield QC, to dish out the advice...

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US Lawyer Lied About Her Age And ‘Faked References’ To Bag A Pupillage At One Inner Temple Lane

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The New York Times has reported an incredible story about a US lawyer who lied about her age and allegedly faked references to land a pupillage in London.

The lawyer, Soma Sengupta, who is currently on trial in Manhattan on charges of forgery, got three months into her pupillage at One Inner Temple Lane before the truth was uncovered. During that time she handled around 80 criminal cases...

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