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Barrister in £33m race claim: I had to find my own work
Paul Cheston, Courts Correspondent16 Oct 2009
A barrister suing her chambers for £33million for race discrimination claimed she had to promote herself to get work because a "culture of racism" meant clerks stopped her from getting top jobs.
Indian-born Dr Aisha Bijlani, who says top London law chambers Four New Square discriminated against her for 16 years, claimed at an employment tribunal she was never involved in major cases led by a chamber's QC.
Dr Bijlani told the Central London tribunal: "I was denied the opportunity of learning and developing skills and obviously as time goes on my competitors were gaining extremely valuable experience and I was denied the opportunity of receiving that." Dr Bijlani, who trained as a doctor before becoming a lawyer, said she had to find work herself because "overtly racist" clerks, who were responsible for allocating work to barristers, ignored her. She claims she earned at least £7million less than colleagues as a result.
But John Bowers, representing Roger Stewart QC, Justin Fenwick QC, John Powell QC, and senior clerk Lizzie Wiseman, suggested clients "had requested other barristers".
The hearing continues.
