A TOP Liverpool law firm sacked a pregnant partner because she would be a drain on resources, a tribunal heard yesterday.

DLA Piper is accused of sexual discrimination after it dismissed Sarah Sweeney when she was three months pregnant.

On the second day of her employment tribunal, it was also claimed “overpaid” senior partners could have taken salary cuts to save her job.

Real estate partner Ms Sweeney, 36, was handed her notice to leave the firm in November 2008.

Giving evidence on Monday, she branded the firm an “old boys’ club”, claimed her bottom was slapped by a top partner and said the Liverpool office’s managing partner told her he did not believe mothers should work.

DLA denies all the allegations and said it had to let Ms Sweeney go because of the downturn in real estate work caused by the credit crunch.

Yesterday the tribunal heard from Richard Crossfield, the firm’s UK head of real estate.

Mr Crossfield was instrumental in managing the real estate teams’ budgets across the country and had to find cost savings from the Liverpool office’s property team in 2008.

During Mr Crossfield’s cross examination, Timothy Pitt-Payne, representing Ms Sweeney, said the firm was trying to improve its teams’ “contribution rates”, which is the proportion of income they send to DLA’s general coffers.

But he said having a partner – who would be responsible for drumming up new business – off on maternity leave would hamper efforts to improve the rate.

Mr Pitt-Payne said: “Having someone on maternity leave is unhelpful, is it not?”