Lawery in the News

Who is she? Joy Drummond, 41-year-old employment partner at the Richmond, London office of 16-partner trade union firm Lawfords.Why is she in the news? Acted on behalf of Fletcher and others, in seven of the 22 test cases which went to the European Court of Justice seeking pensions rights for part-time workers.

The court's decision allows part-time workers to extend their claims back to 1976.

However, the Court also ruled that claims still had to be brought within six months after the cessation of employment, which will defeat some of the claims.

Estimates of the cost to employers of reinstating pensions for around 60,000 teachers, bank employees and health workers who registered claims have ranged from 100 million to 4 billion, although one estimate has put the figure as high as 17 billion.Background: Completed a joint law and politics degree at Durham University in 1980.

Undertook Law Society Finals at the College of Law, Guildford in 1981, when she joined Lawfords as a trainee.

She has specialised throughout her career in employment law, becoming a partner at the firm in 1987.Route to the case: The firm was instructed on behalf of UNIFY, the financial workers' union, to act on behalf of bank workers.Thoughts on the case: 'At last these part time workers, who, in many cases have worked for banks for decades and ended up with pension rights which were almost non-existent, have had some recognition for their years of service.

It is nice to do a case where it really makes a difference to peoples' lives.

For some of these people, the difference in pension will be marginal but for many it will make a big difference to the quality of life they can now expect in retirement.

My clients are lucky; as bank workers they have non-contributory pension schemes.

For those with contributory pension schemes, there is still a hurdle to overcome to raise the money to match the contributions of their employers.

The other side are saying that the outcome is unfair, but they have known since at least 1986 the way the wind was blowing and they have had a long time to prepare for this.'Dealing with the media: 'I am very enthusiastic about the issue and am interested in talking about it.

In telling the papers, I am highlighting an area of discrimination which people might not otherwise know about and where they otherwise might fail to claim.'

Sue Allen