Update #6 – The trial has been moved back

Following the Preliminary Hearing on 11 – 12 February, a further case management discussion was held today 19th April before Employment Judge Stout.

The disclosure process (which was supposed to have been completed by 12 March) has not gone smoothly.  I have provided all of my documents as and when directed by the Tribunal, but although I have received in excess of 6,000 pages from the other parties, I am still awaiting receipt of a number of categories of documents that have not yet been provided to me.  My lawyers are continuing to pursue this.

I cannot give any detail of what I have received in disclosure, but suffice to say there is nothing that has given me or my lawyers any cause for concern at all about my prospects of success. 

The main point arising from today is that the Full Merits Hearing (Trial) has now been extended from 8 days to 20 days.  The Tribunal (and the lawyers’ diaries) could not accommodate this until April 2022, so the trial has been moved back until then, and is now running from 25 April to 23 May 2022.  This means that the hearing on 1-10 June is no longer going ahead.  There is another preliminary hearing listed later in June, which may or may not be in public, depending on what happens between now and then.  

It is frustrating that the hearing cannot proceed as quickly as I would have liked; by the time of its conclusion, it will be over 2 ½ years from the date of the launch of the LGB Alliance and the Stonewall Complaint against me. 

However, the extension from 8 to 20 days will mean that the evidence will be ventilated more extensively.  This is therefore some consolation for the delay. 

Allison Bailey