A City lawyer claiming £19 million after sex discrimination, bullying and harassment forced her from her job took £18,000 worth of free legal advice from one of her company's preferred law firms, an appeal tribunal heard today.

Gill Switalski, 51, did not disclose the free legal advice she received in connection with her own multi-million pound property portfolio, which constituted professional misconduct, it was claimed.

Ms Switalski maintains she was left a mental and physical wreck after an 18-month campaign of bullying that resulted in her being driven from her £140,000 job as head of F&C Asset Management.

But Ms Switalski's actions in taking the free legal advice from Eversheds, one of F&C's regular law firms, amounted to a conflict of interest and professional misconduct, the Employment Appeal Tribunal in London heard.

Monica Carrs-Frisk, QC, for F & C Asset Management, said that an employment tribunal's ruling in Ms Switalski's favour earlier this year was "perverse".

The company is appealing to the tribunal, headed by Mr Justice Burton, against the ruling in August that Ms Switalski was a victim of constructive dismissal sex discrimination, harassment and victimisation.

Its lawyer said that the tribunal was "hoodwinked" by Ms Switalski and her repeated claims that "I was the victim, I was the victim", to the point it had completely ignored the evidence before it.

Ms Carrs-Frisk said that Ms Switalski received more than £18,000 worth of free legal advice in connection with her own property ventures from Eversheds, the City law firm, which, as head of legal with her company, she instructed and gave work.

Once her employers discovered the "very large benefit" that Ms Switalski had received, it wrote to her saying that it planned to investigate. At which point she promptly resigned and said she was planning another case against them, one of three she was pursuing at the time.

Even though the tribunal in its finding in August said that Ms Switalski's actions were "grave", it ruled that the letter sent by her employers saying they planned to investigate was "the last straw", entitling her to claim constructive dismissal.

Ms Switalski's lawyers contend that her company was aware all along of the free legal advice and only dropped the bombshell of this fresh allegation the day before the hearing of her other claims.

Mr Justice Burton said that the whole issue in the current appeal by the company was whether it "sat on the information for 18 months" in order to produce it at a "devastatingly difficult time".

But Ms Carrs-Frisk said that there was "no basis" for saying that colleagues of Ms Switalski did know that the legal services had been provided and that if they did know, they did not believe that they would have been provided free of charge.

Ms Switalski was already won separate findings for sex discrimination, harassment and victimisation and the amount of compensation she will receive is to be decided at a hearing in February.

Known as a "whirling dervish" because of her energy, she ran he rown legal training wesite and a multi-million pound property development company in addition to her role at F&C.

The lawyer, who as allowed to work part of the work from home to look after her two disabled children, claims that her career was destroyed when F&C merged with another finance company and a new boss, Marrack Tonkin, was appointed.

She says that he became "fixated" with her working arrangements, continually questioned her expenses and quizzed subordinates about her working practices.

He is said to have sidelined her in on big projects, including the buying of a hedge fund and she claimed she was overlooked for top management positions.

Senior management, Ms Switalski maintains, repeatedly ignored complaints about Mr Tonkin's behaviour.

In March 2006, Ms Switalski cancelled a business trip after her mother died and then received an e-mail from the company for a death certificate so that it would reclaim the cost of the airfare from insurance.

Later that year she had to undergo surgery and returned to work to discuss her problems, still with a postoperative drain in place. She contracted cellulitis, an infection that can be life-threatening and after a period of sick leave resigned in September 2007.

The appeal continues.

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