Manisha working in India as barrister (From The Northern Echo)

Manisha working in India as barrister

11:08am Tuesday 20th April 2010 in North-East Business News

A STUDENT who was accepted on a North-East law course as part of a programme to help people from socially disadvantaged backgrounds is working in India as a qualified barrister.

Manisha Singh, 22, is gaining experience working as a human rights advocate, having graduated from Newcastle University with a 2.1 degree and having been called to the bar in November.

She said: “I am an advocate and project co-ordinator for a police reforms campaign which has been launched in the states of Haryana and Punjab.

“The campaign is dedicated to generating public awareness and putting pressure on the government to do something about the rampant police corruption over here.”

The course she studied usually asked applicants for three A grades at A-level, but Miss Singh, who went to Lord Lawson of Beamish School, in Birtley, near Chester-le- Street, was not predicted good enough grades.

She took part in the university’s Partners Programme and was allowed on the course after she wrote an essay on charity law.

Miss Singh, who lives in Gateshead, said: “The work out here is very interesting and dear to my heart since my family are from Punjab.

“I am enjoying being out of my comfort zone whilst deploying my advocacy skills.”

Miss Singh recently won The Times Herbert Smith advocacy competition.

The subject of the competition was social exclusion in the law and she successfully argued that the legal profession should change its recruitment model from one of class to merit.

For more information about the programne, log on to ncl.ac.uk/partners/support