Race, gender led to witchhunt: lawyer

By Thomas Abraham

LONDON, MARCH 27. A high-profile woman lawyer who is seen by many young British Asians as a role model has been forced to step down from a prestigious post amid allegations that she bullied and terrorised her staff.

Ms. Kamlesh Bahl (43) was forced to resign her position in the prestigious Law Society after her staff described her behaviour as ``beastly'' and `` aggressive.'' Ms. Bahl, who is one of the few women of Asian origin to rise in the legal profession, has in turn charged the Law Society with ethnic and gender discrimination, and hired Ms. Cherie Blair, the Prime Minister's lawyer wife, to represent her.

The case has inevitably aroused speculation about whether the allegations against her were motivated because she is of Asian origin and a woman.

Ms. Bahl, whose family came to Britain from East Africa in the early 1970s, is widely regarded as an extremely able lawyer, and has occupied high profile posts before. She was until recently, head of the powerful Equal Opportunities Commission, a body that tries to eliminate job a discrimination on grounds of race or sex.

Until a month ago, she was vice-president of the influential Law Society, the professional body which represents 80,000 solicitors in this country. She was also due to become the first woman and the first Asian to become president of the society later this year.

But a stream of complaints against her by her staff resulted in an inquiry by a retired judge, Lord Griffiths, who upheld the complaints. His report, which has been made public today, said that under Ms. Bahl, the Law Society's staff had to work in an ``atmosphere of fear and confusion'', and accuses her of subjecting staff to ``verbal onslaughts.''

The report has deeply damaged Ms. Bahl's reputation, and appears to have put at least a temporary halt to her rise through the British legal establishment. In a statement, she said she had been the victim of witchhunt, and that she had been `` fighting single handedly against an establishment that does not want me to be there.''

When Ms. Bahl was elected vice-president of the Law Society last July, she was given the task of radically reforming its working. Her staff allege that in order to push through these reforms and change the working methods, she regularly bullied and insulted them. Ms. Bahl admitted that she was firm with her staff, but denied that she bullied or insulted them. Lord Griffiths however found that her treatment of staff was `` aggressive and demeaning and well beyond the acceptable bounds of firm management.'' Ms. Bahl responded that ``the price I have had to pay for reforming the Law Society is to be labelled a bully. I went in with a mandate for reform, and this is what has happened.''

Ms. Bahl also clearly believes that her ethnic background was a factor. ``My face did not fit within the Law Society, given my background in industry as against private practice, and by ethnicity and gender.'' The society of Black Lawyers has supported her, and its chairman, Mr. Peter Herbert, said that, ``We take the view that there is a prima facie case of differential treatment on the grounds of race and sex against Ms. Bahl.''

The furore over Ms. Bahl is the latest in a series of problems the Law Society has been having. The previous Vice-President, Mr. John Young, was forced to step down as well over allegations of sexual harassment.

The Bahl case has led to questions about how a person of Asian origin can rise in the British establishment without running into opposition. Lawyers of Asian origin say that the legal profession is one of the last bastions of the establishment, and that it was perhaps not surprising that Ms. Bahl ran into problems.

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Section  : International
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