Who? Tony Morton-Hooper, 51-year-old partner in City firm Mishcon de Reya's litigation team.



Why is he in the news? Represented Helen Green, the City secretary awarded £852,000 damages against Deutsche Bank, her former employer, after the High Court found the bank had failed to protect her from colleagues' bullying. Mr Justice Owen said she was the victim of a deliberate and concerted campaign of bullying that caused her a nervous breakdown and a major depressive disorder. Ms Green told the court her colleagues laughed in face, blew raspberries at her and told her she stank. No disciplinary action was taken against the employees and the bank denied any bullying or harassment. The judge awarded her £35,000 for the injury, £25,000 for her loss of mobility on the labour market, past losses of £116,000 and future losses of £640,000. A spokeswoman for Deutsche Bank said no decision has yet been taken on whether to appeal.



Background: Politics degree at Leeds University, followed by the CPE and Law Society Finals at the College of Law in Chester, then Guildford. After completing his articles at Lawrence Graham, qualified in 1980, and worked at Lawrence Graham and Norton Rose before joining Mishcon de Reya in 1991.



Route to the case: 'I got this case after Ms Green sacked her previous lawyer and because she was aware of my expertise. My colleague Hazel Donaldson and I were impressed by Helen's determination and fighting spirit. But she had no money, so we made a conditional fee agreement.'



Thoughts on the case: 'The bank denied everything and offered nothing. We were not exactly moved by the spirit of Woolf. Our evidence was compelling and corroborated. Helen's was not an isolated case. The bank had form - the judge said bullying was a longstanding problem and called the treatment of Ms Green "relentless", "mean and spiteful" and "designed to cause her distress"... and he said management was "weak and ineffectual". It's a clear message, even though others may attempt to trivialise bullying as ordinary banter or office politics.'



Dealing with the media: 'It's part of my job to understand their job. We prepared press packs and 90% of the coverage was positive. A few trashed the decision and took a swipe at Helen's success. The financial press concluded that bullying is bad for business. Bullying is always bad, but not always actionable. The floodgates won't open. There were the usual irritating inaccuracies in some reports. It happens when journalists don't want a 191-paragraph, closely argued decision to get in the way of a good story. If the court issued its own summaries of lengthy judgments that might help.'



Catherine Baksi