Allison Bailey: Chambers tried to crush barrister's spirit, tribunal told

A lawyer with gender-critical views has accused her chambers of withholding work and trying to crush her spirit.

Garden Court Chambers (GCC) barrister Allison Bailey has launched discrimination action against GCC and the charity Stonewall, which it had been working with.

She told a tribunal she was offered inferior briefs more suited to a newly qualified barrister.

As a result, Ms Bailey's income and career development suffered, she said.

In 2019, Ms Bailey, who is a lesbian, founded the LGB Alliance group which argues there is a conflict between the rights of homosexual and bisexual people, and transgender people.

The alliance also opposes many Stonewall policies.

Ms Bailey, who has been a barrister for 30 years, alleges she lost work and income due to GCC's involvement with Stonewall's Diversity Champions scheme, which she has said was "exclusive" and "discriminatory" of her beliefs.

The criminal defence barrister told an employment tribunal in central London she felt she was "offered inferior brief after inferior brief", and she felt she was being blocked her from doing more substantial cases, in 2019.

Clerks for GCC have said they did not withhold instructions to Ms Bailey or try to reduce the quality of the work she was offered, the tribunal has heard. They say 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, who claimed that GCC's clerking was "materially changed" in 2019, recalled a period where she was offered two and three-day trials.

Ms Bailey told the hearing that the way a firm could try to move someone out of chambers is that "you break their spirit".

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, 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."

She said it was not a matter of turning down this income but wanting to keep her diary open for a case that would "pay substantially more, be substantially more professionally demanding and rewarding and would advance my career".

Ms Bailey said she had raised more than £500,000 on crowdfunding from about 9,000 individual donations to fund her legal case. The tribunal heard she is pursuing a case against her colleagues in chambers for a six-figure sum.

She added: "The reason for the suit is not motivated in any way shape or form by money - my losses have to be quantified."

The hearing was adjourned until Tuesday.