Stephanie Villalba, the former private banking head for Merrill Lynch in London, is back in court on an appeal against her dismissal from th...

Stephanie Villalba, the former private banking head for Merrill Lynch in London, is back in court on an appeal against her dismissal from the US financial services firm.

Ms Villalba, who lost a $13 million sex discrimination case against Merrill in 2004, is appealing on the grounds of victimisation and on a technical point on unequal pay. The UK tribunal was not given leave to appeal on sex discrimination.

The former senior private banker is being represented by London law firm Lewis Silkin, which calls itself “a rather more human law firm”. Lewis Silkin has appointed barrister Dinah Rose from Blackstone Chambers to represent Ms Villalba at the employment tribunal.

Ms Rose said yesterday her client had been subjected to "arrogant and insensitive" comments after she had made various complaints to Merrill’s human resources department about her treatment.

Merrill is being represented by Lovells, one of the City of London’s most profitable law firms, which, in turn, has appointed barristers from Matrix Chambers to represent the firm at the tribunal. Matrix was, of course, co-founded by Tony Blair’s wife, Cherie Blair.

Ms Villalba, who recently gave her first ever interview to the media on the issue, says her experiences have changed her attitude. She has found getting a new job since the initial trial very difficult.

“I've learned that it's not just people who have a lot of money and who are winners that count in life,” she told The Observer.

“There is a whole other set of values that you tend to forget about when you're working in these organisations. I'm happy I've had the opportunity to see that, even if it's meant learning the hard way. When I was at Merrill, I just put my nose to the grindstone and worked. Whenever I saw something that wasn't fair I did nothing, I stepped away from it. Only when I had no choice did I learn that it was important to stand up for something.”

The case is scheduled for two days – so we should know something of the outcome by the end of the week.