BPP investigates Professional Ethics tutor
12 February 2010
BPP Law School has launched an investigation into a tutor on its BVC course who was suspended from practicing as a barrister for behaviour likely to bring the profession into disrepute - and who taught on the school's Professional Ethics module.

Isabel Dakyns was, until yesterday, a tutor and examiner at BPP, despite having been disciplined in February 2008 for failing to comply with a judgement ordering her to cough up nearly £50k. The Bar Standards Board decided that her behaviour was likely to bring the Bar into disrepute and suspended her for a whopping 30 months. Which failed to prevent BPP from employing her to train the barristers of tomorrow on, errr, professional ethics. At least there's a pleasing irony to it.

Ironic*

A spokeswoman for BPP said that "a tutor from the Bar Vocational Course in London has been suspended from BPP Law School, on full pay, pending an investigation related to personal circumstances". Clearly an organisation which is unable to name its own students should not be expected to check a reference or use Google.

Dakyns told RollOnFriday that she had not been a practising barrister since August 2006, and had been teaching at BPP since September 2006. She said that "in February 2008, after a disciplinary hearing (of which I was unaware, at which I was not present and in relation to which I made no representations) I was suspended from practice as a result of a contractual dispute that had no connection to my practice at the Bar. I intend to appeal against that decision."

*For the benefit of RoF's older readers, this is not Isabel Dakyns, it's Alanis Morissette who wrote a song called "Ironic" which ironically actually wasn't about irony anyway hope that's clear thanks