Ms Villalba lost her equal pay claim but won her action for unfair dismissal.Ms Parmar is being represented by Lawrence Davies, a consultant solicitor with the London-based firm Imran Khan and Partners.In her action, Ms Parmar says that one senior member of staff described Ms Bahl to her as a "typical Brahmin ?ermeister" - a high-caste overlord. Ms Parmar said she felt "sickened" by this comment, which she alleges was an "act of direct race discrimination".She said that at a party in 2001, the same manager, who had since left the Society, said Asians were "reliable little workers, and I was lucky I was not African-Caribbean because everyone knew they were lazy and had attitude problems".Ms Parmar says that when she brought complaints against members of staff, her managers trivialised them and suggested she had mental health problems.Ms Parmar, an adviser on alternative dispute resolution in family law, is seeking an estimated £1m in punitive damages. That case cost the Law Society of England and Wales an estimated £2.5m and lasted four and a half years.In her claim document, Ms Parmar accuses Law Society management of having a "racist stereotypical view" of staff. She says that during the Bahl affair the Law Society developed a "pattern" of encouraging Asian staff to bring complaints against the then vice-president.She alleges: "It is safer and more effective for it to encourage Asian staff members to falsely complain against their own race, because that complaint is less likely to be perceived as racist and to reveal the underlying hostility of certain white managers."She also accuses her bosses of encouraging co-workers to make complaints against her.

The Law Society is facing a £1m claim for sex and race discrimination that threatens to plunge the solicitors' governing body into a bitter internal war. After an internal inquiry found the complaints to be unproven, she claims she was "segregated" from the three members of staff who brought them.The Law Society has hired the top employment law barrister Nicholas Underhill QC to defend the claim, which opens at an employment tribunal in central London on Monday. Ms Parmar, 37, also alleges that she was encouraged to bring a complaint against Kamlesh Bahl, the society's Asian vice-president forced from office after allegations of bullying in 2000. The link between alcohol consumption among victorious fans and soaring levels of assaults in the aftermath of matches was also noted by researchers.The study said: "It is possible that levels of self-confidence, assertiveness, or patriotism which may be heightened following a win are important factors."It added: "Winning prompts celebration, a key component of which is alcohol consumption, and prompts the formation of crowds of intoxicated individuals, making interpersonal physical assertiveness more likely."The research is not the first occasion that scientists have investigated the link between sporting victory and violence. During the football World Cup, domestic violence against women peaked after England matches with refuges reporting a significant rise in cases.International research has also confirmed the correlation between victory at sporting events and domestic violence.The link is becoming increasingly acknowledged, with advertisements warning against domestic violence being broadcast in the US during the Superbowl.. The study found that it made little difference whether the match was played at home or away in terms ofthe number of casualties.The researchers concluded: "These analyses suggest that assault may not be the result of negative factors associated with a national team losing, but the result of a positive event [winning]."Attempting to identify the reasons behind the apparent correlation between victory and violence, the report highlighted the psychological effects of winning among sporting fans. When Wales won, the average number of assault injuries soared to 33, compared with25 when Wales lost.

The imposition of a third candidate has infuriated local party stalwarts.According to Kevin Pond, the treasurer of Slough Conservative Association, the Tories' slim chances of success in Slough - the sort of constituency they need to win if they are to form a government - have been destroyed by Michael Howard. The average number of assaults fell to about 21 when there were no major sporting events in the city.A relationship emerged betweenthe incidence of casualties and the outcome of the match. He said: "We are extremely disappointed and angry at what Mr Howard has done. But it's rather embarrassing for us in the short term," he said. "The bigger problem has been the muddying of our message over cutting bureaucracy in public services.