Miss Aisha Bijlani blames Roger Stewart QC and Lizzie Wiseman for sending her into a spiral of 'severe and long-term depression'
The secretive world of millionaire lawyers will be placed under the spotlight next week when a barrister takes her boss and his blonde legal clerk to a tribunal claiming millions of pounds in damages.
Indian-born Aisha Bijlani claims she suffered discrimination at her London chambers which denied her the chance to earn as much as high-flying colleagues.
Among the respondents she names Roger Stewart QC, a part-time judge and until recently the head of chambers, and senior clerk Lizzie Wiseman - accusing them of 'co-ordinating' the discrimination against her.
To make matters more complicated, 46-year-old Mr Stewart and Mrs Wiseman, 44, have left their respective partners and are living together at her home after her husband moved out. According to legal sources, it is 'common knowledge' that they are an item.
The affair has caused incredulity in the legal world. A source said: 'You just do not have heads of chambers and senior clerks having a relationship together. It is a major scandal.'
Mr Stewart, who is head of chambers for Four New Square, was responsible for setting Mrs Wiseman's salary and bonuses
As the senior clerk at the chambers, Four New Square in Lincoln's Inn, Mrs Wiseman is in charge of accepting instructions and matching them with barristers.
She in turn is employed by the head of chambers who is responsible for setting her salary and bonuses. From 2006 to January this year, the head of chambers was Mr Stewart.
Details of the alleged affair are expected to be aired at the hearing which starts next week at Central London Employment Tribunal.
A legal source said: 'The chambers are terrified of this case. They wanted it to go away, but they know they have to fight it.'
Miss Bijlani blames Mr Stewart and Mrs Wiseman for sending her into a spiral of 'severe and long-term depression'.
In a statement of case lodged with the tribunal, she claims she suffered discrimination for years because of her skin colour and was victimised by Mr Stewart and Mrs Wiseman after making a formal complaint in April 2007.
Roger Stewart QC (balding) with Lizzy Wiseman (blonde)
It is likely the chambers will argue that Miss Bijlani was not up to the job. She was told in 2006 by Mr Stewart that she was 'a failure at the Bar' and there was 'no place' for her at the chambers, her statement reveals.
Until recently, Mr Stewart, who earns an estimated £1million to £2million a year, lived with his wife Georgina and their three children at a £2.3million house near Clapham Common in South London.
Last Sunday, he emerged with Mrs Wiseman and two children from her London townhouse and they went on a family outing together.
A source said he believed that Mr Stewart had moved in with Mrs Wiseman in January, and was now involved in a 'bitter divorce with lawyers and everything'. Mrs Wiseman has been married twice - to the same man. She first wed stockbroker Luke Wiseman in 1989 at Islington register office in North London, but they divorced in 1996.
Two years later they re-married at Kensington and Chelsea register office. They are believed to have four children and Mr Wiseman is still joint owner of the house with his wife, according to the Land Registry.
Four New Square is ranked the top chambers for professional negligence work, and Mr Stewart is described in legal directories as 'tenacious' and 'the star of the group'.
The Chambers and Partners 2006 directory bills him as 'hard as nails in court, with all the energy of a 12-year-old'.
Among his high-profile victories, Mr Stewart won £6.2million damages on behalf of his client
Multiplex in a dispute over the construction of Wembley Stadium - but the judge hit out at the enormous fees charged by lawyers in the case. Mr Stewart shared a £12million payday with the firm Clifford Chance, according to The Lawyer magazine.
Miss Bijlani qualified as a doctor and had a short career in medicine at Guy's Hospital in London before switching to a career in law.
She joined Four New Square in 1994. She states in her tribunal claim that, from day one, she was 'systematically denied' the same opportunities as her contemporaries, and that her treatment amounted to racism by 'white British' legal clerks.
Yesterday Miss Bijlani refused to answer the door at her £ 2million Westminster townhouse close to the Thames, and her solicitor Mark Emery did not return calls.
Mr Stewart and Mrs Wiseman both declined to comment about the case.
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