LONDON-A lawyer is suing her former employer, London law firm Freshfields, for loss of her career as a lawyer, personal injury, psychological distress and, separately, sexual discrimination.

Kate Cawthorn, 25, is claiming (British pounds) 633,436 ($1 million) for her injuries and loss of future earnings after contracting dysentery while on a business trip in Ghana.

In a separate Industrial Tribunal action, she has lodged sexual discrimination proceedings against the law firm, claiming the firm would have acted differently had she been male, said her lawyer, Gillian Howard, who is not affiliated with a firm.

Ms. Cawthorn contracted shigella dysentery after eating fresh fish while working in Ghana in January 1994. She claims Freshfields failed to ensure she had the proper inoculations and failed to advise her on her diet in an area where shigella dysentery is endemic, said Ms. Howard, a leading litigator on employment law.

Ms. Cawthorn claims the firm failed to send her home for four weeks despite severe stomach pains and diarrhea.

Ms. Cawthorn returned home only after learning her manager on the trip had been told he could return home after also contracting diarrhea.

Since returning home, she contracted irritable bowel syndrome and has been on medication ever since. Due to her illness, she has been unable to complete the required two year traineeship that would have completed her qualifications to enter the legal profession in the United Kingdom.

"The drug she has been taking could have long-term effects and even leave her sterile," according to Ms. Howard.

Freshfields claims the firm had no idea how ill Ms. Cawthorn was at the time.

Ms. Howard, meanwhile, accuses the firm of continuing sexual discrimination and negligence in its lack of support and "indifference to a member of staff's health and safety."

Companies have a statutory duty to ensure their employees' safety at work and take reasonable precautions against any foreseeable risk, Ms. Howard said, claiming that in this instance "they took no steps whatsoever and didn't care."