A BEAUTICIAN who spectacularly won a High Court battle has been given a free place at a top law school.

Georgina Blackwell will be able to fulfil her ambition to study law after gaining a £10,000 scholarship at BPP Law School in Waterloo, London.

The school’s chief executive Peter Crisp gave the 23-year-old a place after reading about her success against one of the country’s largest house builders. The court battle revolved around a grade II listed former school her mother had bought in Halstead.

Her opponent was Bellway Homes, one of the country’s biggest developers.

It wanted to convert land it had bought next door into luxury homes.

The Blackwells could not afford a lawyer, so aspiring barrister Georgina, who had no legal training, took on the case, just like Reese Witherspoon’s character in hit film, Legally Blonde.

Not only did she manage to overturn a previous High Court judgment, she also won her mother £75,000 compensation.

The former Hedingham School pupil had applied to do a law course at Kingston University when she was 17. But she gave up her place and started work at the family’s salon in Parsonage Street, Halstead, after her mum broke her wrist.

Georgina, from Halstead, said: “I had given up the dream of studying law. I’m absolutely amazed – it’s lovely.

“I got a phone call from them last week. They offered me the place after they read my story.”

Her mum Sandra Blackwell, 52, said: “I’m thrilled and very proud.

“She’s always been such a clever girl.”

Peter Crisp, chief executive of BPP Law School, in Waterloo, London, said: “I was very impressed with the court case win.

“To take on a giant like Bellway and win is really remarkable.

“It must have been very challenging for Georgina to be in the High Court in front of a judge.

“Her tenacity and determination will stand her in very good stead.”