Deidre Dare’s £3.4m Claim Against A&O Haunts Headlines
“I believe I was unfairly dismissed because my boss Tony Humphrey had developed a sexual obsession with me and that all subsequent events were a direct result of that obsession”…
…states her employment tribunal claim.
Deidre Dare ex-senior associate in Allen & Overy’s Moscow office and a darling of the legal blogosphere, launched a claim against her former firm last April. After enjoying several years as an expat in Moscow she wrote a fictional account of one female expat, Dasha, that included lots of alcohol, drugs, sex, donkeys, and dwarves. A&O did not approve and sacked her.
Deidre Clark (her real name) decided to claim compensation alleging unfair dismissal and sexual discrimination. A&O are satisfied that their termination of her employment was justified and lawful and are defending the claim – vigorously.
Which hasn’t stopped Dare elaborating on the details. And she is an erotic novelist after all…
On top of the general claim she made about Tony Humphrey, managing partner of A&O’s Moscow office; according to The Lawyer, Dare also claims that she and the partner “made out one drunken evening” on a colleague’s couch and alleges: “Many witnesses were present. This was a heavy make out session and included tongues, hands on genitalia etc.”
To be a fly on the wall at A&O’s PR meeting on this.
Dare had instructed Maud Bergvelt at Hylton Potts Legal Consultants in London, a firm headed by Rodney Hylton-Potts, nicknamed “The Rottweiler”, and A&O has instructed Tom Linden QC at Matrix Chambers.
