A former Dentons partner, who was ordered to pay the firm £600,000 four years ago, says she has filed a criminal complaint against it in India, accusing the firm of ignoring her epilepsy and then deliberately causing her to suffer fits.

Gauri Advani worked as India Group Head for legacy firm Denton Wilde Sapte until she moved to Eversheds in 2007. In 2009 two Indian travel agents sued Advani for negligence, claiming that while she was at Dentons she advised them to pay a £380k 'deposit' to an Indian state official to secure an exclusive travel deal, which never materialised. For good measure, the agents added Dentons as a co-defendant.

Ruling that the agents had no right to compensation because they knew the £380k was an illegal bribe, the court also found that Advani had acted outside her employment at Dentons for her own personal gain as an independent "deal broker". In 2012, Dentons won a claim against Advani to recoup its £600k expenses as co-defendant, and she was struck off.

Handle with care

However, Advani has now re-emerged to accuse her former firm of various unspeakable crimes. Speaking to RollOnFriday, she said she suffered from epilepsy, which she claimed Dentons "completely ignored and deliberately covered up"  while she worked at the firm and in the subsequent court cases.

She also claimed that during its case against her, Dentons and its legal team used "fear, excessive stress and panic" to "deliberately induce epileptic seizures in me". And Advani claims that Delhi police are now investigating Dentons in response to her allegations.

A spokesman for Dentons said, "We haven't had any contact with Ms Advani since 2012, when the court ordered her to pay our costs as a co-defendant in a case which found she had acted dishonestly and outside the course of her employment. We are not aware of any criminal proceedings against us in India in relation to this matter".