Judge ‘ billed office £75 over daughter’s splinter’
A SENIOR judge spent £75 of his legal chambers’ funds to pay for a splinter to be removed from his daughter’s finger, an employment tribunal heard.
Anthony Metzer QC, a deputy high court judge, also made sure members of his family and their friends were taken on as interns, it was claimed.
They were allegedly paid more than their colleagues and known as ‘Metzer’s interns’.
When Karen Gillard, a fellow barrister and chambers deputy treasurer, leaked details of the splinter treatment to website Legal Cheek she was fired, the central London tribunal was told.
Miss Gillard, who is gay, is claiming public interest disclosure, unfair dismissal, sex discrimination and discrimination by way of sexual orientation. Details of the 2016 incident involving the treatment given to Mr Metzer’s daughter Rebecca were given at an earlier hearing.
She was at Goldsmith Chambers in London for a week that January when she hurt her finger.
Miss Gillard, 45, said: ‘She was moving some boxes in the basement and got a splinter. Anthony Metzer QC took her up to a medical business on Fleet Street and had the splinter removed. Ashley Perkins, who dealt with payments as chambers administrator, was so angry when she found out.’
Giving evidence on Friday, Mr Metzer, who is head of chambers, said: ‘I had no knowledge either of that injury to Rebecca’s finger or that £75 that was spent because I was in court that day.
‘Miss Gillard told me about that by telephone. She had made that decision to pay the £75.’
Miss Gillard, who served as Liberal Democrat leader on Plymouth City Council, said Mr Metzer’s version of events was ‘simply untrue’.
She told the tribunal that Mr Metzer ‘forced’ his nephew Samson into the chambers and was furious when she tried to stop him hiring family members. But Mr Metzer, 56, said: ‘All potential interns and work experience students including my family members had to submit their CV to Miss Gillard for consideration.
‘ She told me she wanted Oxbridge-type candidates. I suggested my daughters Rebecca and Anya, my nephew Samson and my friend’s daughter Freya.’
He said he suspended Miss Gillard as an emergency move ‘because of her bullying’.
He added: ‘There were members of chambers who were shocked frightened and harassed by her.’
The case continues.