An employment tribunal has ruled that a criminal chamber discriminated against a lesbian lawyer with “gender-critical” views and to pay damages of £22,000.
Garden Court Chambers (GCC) barrister Alison Bailey claims she lost work and income due to GCC’s involvement with Stonewall’s Diversity Champions scheme, which she said was “exclusive” and “discriminatory” of her beliefs.
As a result she launched discrimination action against the firm and charity Stonewall, which GCC had been working with.
Following the landmark ruling, Ms Bailey said: “This is a vindication for all those who, like me, object to the erasure of biological sex, of women, and of same sex attraction as material realities. It represents judicial recognition of the abuse waged against us.
“This case was never about money. I did not win everything, but I won the most important thing: I have brought Stonewall’s methods into the public eye, and I have shown them for what they now are.
“It never occurred to me as I was building my career that the organisation which would prove my biggest obstacle would be a charity set up ostensibly to protect people like me.
“This case was funded by donations from thousands of people who recognised the wrong that was being done to me and others like me. It is testament to the power and resolve of ordinary people: straight, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual.”
The tribunal, however, did not uphold Ms Bailey’s action against Stonewall, but the lawyer said she had been successful “in exposing Stonewall’s conduct and malign influence it wields in the workplace and in society more generally.”
In 2019, Ms Bailey founded the LGB Alliance group which argues there is a conflict between the rights of lesbian, gay and bisexual people, and transgender people – and opposes many Stonewall policies.
The criminal defence barrister told the tribunal in central London she felt she was “offered inferior brief after inferior brief” and she felt she was being blocked from doing more substantial cases in 2019. She also accused GCC of trying to “crush her spirit” in an attempt to push her out of the firm.
Clerks for GCC have said they did not attempt to reduce the quality of the work she was offered, the tribunal heard. They said they worked hard together to get her work and keep her in court and there was no attempt to make her face a reduced income in 2019.
Ms Bailey claimed that clerking “materially changed” in 2019 and recalled a period where she was offered two and three-day trials. She added: “You make it clear that a barrister has no future in chambers. There is going to be no active practice development for them.
“There is going to be no care given in developing their practice. The message I got which was frankly spirit-crushing.”
Ms Bailey, who claims that the quality of work offered to her dropped off from early 2019, had been offered a three-day case in March involving a charge of possession with intent to supply.
She said: “I was moving towards having a practice where I could conceive of applying to be a Queen’s Counsel. Having a three-day intent-to-supply case is the sort of case that one would give to a newly qualified barrister or a junior barrister.
Ms Bailey said the case was not beneath her but it was a matter of “matching work to a barrister’s seniority and experience”.
She said: “It seemed to me to be an example of a clerk that I had no experience of and one of the first cases that he offers me is a very straightforward case of the sort that I would be doing when I first qualified 30 years ago.”
Ms Bailey said she had raised more than £500,000 on crowdfunding from around 9,000 individual donations to fund her legal case. The tribunal heard she is pursuing a case against her colleagues in chambers for six-figures.
Last week a barrister from Garden Court Chambers was suspended and fined after she told a judge she was speaking “absolute rubbish.”
An employment tribunal heard Jacqueline Vallejo, 50, was “rude and unprofessional” to the female judge during a crown court trial, a disciplinary hearing was told, also telling her “don’t try to make me sound like an idiot”.
A Bar Tribunal hearing ruled this week that Ms Vallejo made several “disrespectful” comments in front of jurors, as well as being “unduly” argumentative by talking over her and interrupting her.
A Stonewall Spokesperson said: “We are pleased that the Employment Tribunal has ruled in a decision published today that Stonewall has not been found to have instructed, caused or induced Garden Court Chambers to discriminate against Allison Bailey.
“Our Diversity Champions programme supports employers to make their workplaces inclusive and supportive of LGBTQ+ employees. It provides resources, guidance and support for organisations who are committed to creating a workplace where everyone can thrive. We are incredibly proud of the inclusive communities these organisations are creating across the country, by going above and beyond the legal minimum to provide leading support for LGBTQ+ people at work.
“The case heard by the Employment Tribunal did not accurately reflect our intentions and our influence on organisations. Leaders within organisations are responsible for the organisational culture and the behaviour of their employees and workers. Stonewall’s resources, support and guidance is just one set of inputs they use to help them as they consider how best to meet the needs of their own organisation.
“We are proud to work every day for the freedom, equity and potential of every LGBTQ+ person, whether that’s fighting for LGBTQ+ Afghans to be resettled in the UK, campaigning so that lesbian and bi women can access IVF without paying £25,000 out of their own pockets, or securing a ban on conversion practices that protect all LGBTQ+ people from lifelong harm.”
