Lawyer In The News

Who? Lisa Connerty, 39-year-old principal litigation officer in the London office of the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE).

Why is she in the news? Acted for Sergeant Gurpal Virdi, cleared last month by an employment tribunal of sending racist hate mail to himself and his colleagues in the Metropolitan Police.

The Met claimed that Mr Virdi, a Sikh who had given evidence of racism in the Met at the Stephen Lawrence inquiry, was motivated by frustration after being turned down for promotion, and was planning a claim of racial discrimination against the police.

The tribunal also found that he was racially discriminated against by the Met during its investigation of him.

Background: English degree at Worcester College, Oxford 1986-89, followed by CPE and LPC at College of Law in Chancery Lane 1990-92.

Articled with Wilson & Co in Tottenham, qualifying in 1995.

Joined the CRE in 1996.

Route to case: Mr Virdi was originally represented by Hounslow Law Centre, which approached the CRE when the case had stretched its resources to the limit.

Thoughts on the case: 'Any case that deals with racism in the police is a very difficult and sensitive one.

Halfway through our preparations for the case, Mr Virdi was found guilty of the offence by an internal disciplinary board and dismissed.

We were completely taken aback, and had to make the very difficult decision whether or not to continue with our separate civil case.'

Dealing with the media: 'Working for the CRE, I've had some experience at dealing with the media, but nothing like this where, for example, Private Eye took an interest from the start.

On the day the verdict was announced, we made all the nationals and Newsnight - on the whole, the media were pretty good with us.'

Victoria MacCallum