Lawyer in the news

Who? Phil Shiner, 45-year-old sole practitioner running Birmingham-based Public Interest Lawyers, which specialises in environmental, human rights and public interest law.

Why is he in the news? Represents a group of former Gurkhas who are suing the government for alleged racial discrimination.

The 24 Nepalese ex-soldiers, members of the 28,000-strong Gurkha Ex-serviceman Organisation, are claiming that their pensions are a fraction of other British troops, that they are paid much less, and that they are less likely to get promoted.

Background: LLB at Birmingham University 1975-78 followed by Law Society finals at the College of Law at Chester.

He qualified with trade union firm Robin Thompson & Co (now Thompsons) in 1981, where he stayed before moving to Birmingham-based Small Heath Law Centre in 1983.

He then established a voluntary sector housing project, Birmingham council estates project, where he remained until 1989 (completing an LLM at Warwick University in 1986).

After spells as a community worker in Bradford and working for Frank Field, the Labour MP for Birkenhead, he joined Birmingham firm Tyndallwoods as a partner in 1995, leaving to start his own firm in 1999.

Route to the case: 'I was speaking in Tokyo about a nuclear weapons test case that I currently have in the House of Lords.

I was approached by a member of the Gurkha Ex-serviceman Organisation who heard me talk, and explained the case to me while on the Tokyo-Hiroshima train.

By the time we arrived, I had agreed to take it on.'

Thoughts on the case: 'We are not asking for pound-for-pound parity in pensions, but a full review of the Nepalese cost of living - the government may say that the cost of living there is much cheaper than this country, but they have not taken into account that Nepal has no welfare state.

There are also other issues, such as the fact that while a British soldier can have his wife and family with him when abroad, a Gurkha is allowed only three years' family leave out of 15 years of service.

We are confident of a successful result, but the potential financial impact of a victory will drive the Ministry of Defence to fight us all the way.'

Dealing with the media: 'I've deliberately tried to use the media as much as possible in this case by sending out a press release and directly approaching the Daily Mirror.

We've had fantastic coverage in the nationals and on television - probably helped by having Cherie Booth QC in our legal team - and this has meant that we now have public opinion on our side.'

Victoria MacCallum