We are about three weeks past of the anniversary date that the Firm Spy was temporarily shut down. We used to appear at www.firmspy.com.au, but had to start afresh at www.firmspy.com (without the .au).

mwahahahahaha

Since that time, we have received well over one million hits on our site. 1,113,415 to be exact (as of 30/6/2010)

Every now and then we reflect on exactly what we are and what we’re trying to achieve. And now is probably as good a time as any to be reflective. Are we a gossip site? A blog? A news source? We don’t really know. However, we think for the most part, we are about trying to keep things as transparent as possible. This is paradoxical, given that we don’t reveal who we are, but we believe this is necessary in order to continue to report without the editorial bias that we see in competitor news media (excepting the AFR occasionally).

Our mission, if we have one, probably starts at univiersities - giving students a clearer picture of precisely what to expect after graduation. Many of our readers are university students. To this end, we read with interest the comments from two university students in an article forming part of the AFR Partnership Survey:

Third year Maquarie University law student Tanja Maley says she hopes to become a partner in a top commercial firm, and everything else - family included - can follow. “I want a fast city life and i want the long hours”, she says. “I don’t think I’d be satisfied if I wasn’t challenged in that respect.”

But fellow student Tahnee Nicholson says that after completing a clerkship at a top national firm and accepting a graduate position, she is concerned about the obstacles facing women. “One of the male partners said to me at one point: “You know, women partners have to sacrifice a lot more to get here than men do,” she says. Successful female partners are described as “ballsy and gutsy women”, she says. Nicholson still wants to become a partner and hopes that “by the time I get to that stage the things expected of a partner will have changed especially for female partners”.

But do students have any idea what being a partner at a major corporate law firm is really like? Sure, they probably know that the cash is good, but what about the day to day life of a partner? What about the isolation from family and friends? AFR Legal Affairs editors James Eyers and Hannah Low gave a fantastic - and in our view 100% correct - insight into the troubles that face partners who, probably feeling estranged from family and friends, decide they might want to temporarily work part time, or with less intensity:

A key reason why changing gears can be problematic is that the equity models of many law firms don’t respond to partners seeking to reduce the amount of profit they receive from the partnership, which is typically determined by allocating points. Even at the firms that have abandoned traditional lock-step equity structures for more performance-based models, reducing points is viewed as a sign of weakness.

Many firms struggle with such requests [to work part time]. It is well known in the industry that “part time” does not necessarily mean fewer hours will be worked. At many firms, part-time partners keep the same billing targets, meaning they have to squash a full-time workload into three or four days. For others, it can simply mean doing the same work from home yet be paid at the part-time rate.

Meanwhile, Dwyer Health consultant Ted Dwyer said that:

historically Australian firms have been unwilling to reduce levels of equity to accommodate flexible working arrangements. “There has been a tradition of de-equitising partners”, he says.

For our student readers thinking about the distant prospect of equity in a law firm, be careful what you wish for. The overwhelming likelihood is that you’ll never get there, but supposing you do, is the fundamentally shallow existence of growing old chained to a desk all that alluring? What about for $1,500,000.00 per year?

But we digress. Today is a celebration of the Firm Spy’s arrival, and let’s not sully it more talk about the corporate partners who feature so prominently in all of our other publications.

Many moons ago, we made the following statement which appears on our “about us“ page:

Because we are professionals ourselves, we know what it’s like, and we have our ear to the ground for the latest gossip and news you won’t hear anywhere else.  So beware: you are being watched.

Given that we’ve now chalked up our millionth hit, perhaps this statement should now read:

Because we are professionals ourselves, we know what it’s like, and we have our ear to the ground for the latest gossip and news you won’t hear anywhere else.  So beware: you are being watched and so are we.

Send the Firm Spy your news and views!

For those standing outside the Big4 accounting firms who read our now regular posts pertaining to “en masse” employee departures, our reportage appears to be perceived as sensationalist or hyperbolic.

yes, youll get 100% more!

Not that the rest of our faux journalism isn’t sensationalalist or hyperbolic, of course!

But to the the extent that we have eyes and ears on the ground in the Big 4 (being in our view a comprehensive extent), the repeated intelligence we’re receiving is that in all groups, across all Big4 accoutning firms, the best quality, most highly rated people are leaving.

It is not until firms begin to make changes that impliedly recognise a skills issue, that the rumours we report can be substantiated.

And earlier this week, our spy from Ernst & Young had the following major scoop to report:

EY is apparently not paying bonuses this year, despite staff being told last year that a new bonus scheme was being implemented. Staff in tax are leaving in droves, and management are so desperate to recruit more people that they have doubled the recruitment referral bonus. For new starters under Manager level, this means you can get paid $8,000 for referring your mate (up from $4,000).

Doubling the referral bonus!?!

Is this the first concrete proof that a post-GFC skills shortage is now threatening the Big4?

Send the Firm Spy your news and views!

In response to our article a couple of weeks ago which profiled the alleged underpayment of PwC managers, came the following comments from anonymous PwC spies:

a PWC staffer speaks out

First this:

The “Mass Exodus” this article refers to is now occuring within the ranks of AuIT. Alot is said when staff leave and opt in being unemployed rather than finding something else. perhaps its time to desert the sinking ship?

Then this:

and is it any wonder that 22 people have resigned from AUiT since January??? when are the so called leadership team going to take notice? what a disgrace and PwC think they have collaboration and good culture? Its only a matter of time until something crashes and the firm will suffer, maybe then the Partners and rest of the firm will take notice!

A very astute professional services industry commentator recently wrote:

According to a study by McKinsey & Co, involving 77 companies and over 6,000 managers and executives – the most important corporate resource over the next 20 years will be talent.

Post GFC, the search for the best and brightest has become a challenging and costly battle. Organisations need to devise more innovative talent acquisition practices, and they will also have to work harder to keep their best people.

So perhaps it is time PwC did more to hang onto staff contemplating a move away from the firm?

Meanwhile, another anonymous PwC spy wrote to us yesterday in relation to PwC farcical “what would you like to change advertising campaign”:

Has anyone else noticed how unsuccessful the PwC “what would you like to change” advertising campaign was? We spent millions on this externally (trams, airports, AFR, Radio) as well as internally (new business cards, flyers, magnets, posters, office tags) instead of passing on bonuses to staff. I just looked at the website - check the dates of the comments - basically no comments since the start of July - and prior to that May! Surely this is more of an embarrassment than anything. I feel embarassed presenting my business card to clients when they ask what the “what would you like to change” motto is. I really hope they don’t go to the site and see how little traction it got.

Perhaps the change the PwC staff are looking for is a career change!

Send the Firm Spy your news and views!

Corrs Chambers Wesgarth HR manager Alexis Navie has made a bit of a habit of using media to broadcast her peculiar views on a variety of matters over the years.

MoS EFY party - a valued Corrs benefit

For example, despite having no apparent formal training in psychology*, Navie voiced her opinion on the reasons behind rife depression within the legal industy in a 2006 article:

Part of the problem is in the “nature of the beasts themselves”, she said. “We are talking about the top percentage of the intellectual population.”

More recently she gave her thoughts on scroring the ultimate legal gig in a corporate-buzz-word-intensive article entitled “how to get a job in a law firm”, in which Navie give the following tips:

• ability to get along with people;
• communicate with impact;
• instilling confidence;
• be open to learning;
• develop ability to inspire people.

But the piece de restistance was publiched yesterday by our friends at The New Lawyer . The gist of the article, entitled The people cycle - which was authored entitrely by Corrs’ Alexis Navie - is that the market for legal jobs has finally turned and that firms now need to think about the means by which they will retain staff. With an extremely self-congratulatory tone, Tony Robbins Navie then walks readers itching to hear how best to retain staff through “a few ideas that we  have tried which you might find helpful”:

· Money is important, it is a sign of reward and recognition so get your compensation strategy right. Make sure the criteria is clear and you can explain logically why they have received the salary that they have.

But it is unclear how Navie is able to “logically explain” salaries and the firm’s compensation strategy when, by her own recent admission, the Corrs reumneration system is administratively burdensome and beset with security issues. Navie said:

We were using a manual process with spreadsheets and our main areas of concern were corruption of files, version control issues and security and confidentiality. Additionally we didn’t have real-time reporting of salary increases and the manual processing of salary review letters through mail merging was an administrative headache.”

Naturally, it appears that Navie has failed to follow her own sage advice to “get her compensation strategy right”. Moreover, if anonymous comments contained in the Firm Spy 2010 Remuneration Survey are any indication, it appears that there is a significant level of disillusionment particularly among juniours over the issue of pay.

An anonymous Corrs fifth year wrote:

[Corrs] runs on the smell of an oily rag. It’s easier to solve global warming than to get a free lunch out of Corrs.

An anonymous Corrs third year wrote:

As a firm, the Perth office is going so well, but all the junior lawyers carry the weight for little in return.

But what about Navie’s other retention advice? Namely:

· Benefits are important too but a benefit for some may not be as attractive to others so do your research with this.

Unfortunately it appears that Navie may have failed to follow the benefits piece too. An anonymous Corrs first year wrote:

Pay increase has been average compared to other big firms. Still relatively happy because I’m in a good department with an approachable partner. I know others are less happy with the increase though. It’s said that Corrs used to pay well (only G+T and the big 3 paid more), with no perks, but it seems the former is no longer the case. Firm exceeded its FY2010 budget, so people are justifiably miffed.

And, rather cheaply, the Sydney partnership decided to hold its EFY party at MoS cafe, a dingey little bar annexed to our building, more known for its mediocre late-night dinner deliveries.

Unsurprisingly, an astute anonymous Corrs fifth-year merged these two issues of HR befuddlement and salary-system security in their comments on the Firm Spy 2010 Remuneration Survey, writing:

very social but poor infrastructure, ie HR, phones…

How is your HR department tracking? Should they keep their views in-house? Or are they also in the “top percentage of the intellectual population”?

Send the Firm Spy your news and views!

*We could be wrong on the issue of Navie’s formal training in psychology, so we invite her to clarify this point. Or anyone else, for that matter.

When you received your $900 Kevin Rudd stimulus cash, what was your first thought? A flat screen TV? A new dishwasher? How about a couple of prostitutes and a bag of sniff?

ok Ill bring the hookers

This is what Masterchef winner - and former Kelly & Co lawyer - Adam Liaw said on his (incredibly still accessible) Twitter account (5:50pm, 10/4/2009):

Free economic stimulus money application form came in the post. Now the inevitable question: Hookers or blow?

Inevitable indeed .But what will Adam do with the Masterchef winner’s $100,000 … err… booty?

We had a hunch yesterday that Masterchef contestant Adam Liaw - better known amongst Firm Spy readers as the fellow who believes “it is a God-given right for a Prime Minister to host a secret sex party with a bunch of hookers and other Prime Ministers”* - would win the popular Channel 10 TV show for season 2010. So we took the very unusual step of picking up the phone to call Kelly & Co lawyers and spoke with Chairman Michael Durrant to find out a little bit more about Adam Liaw the junior lawyer.

We introduced ourselves as the Firm Spy and thankfully Mr Durrant was unfamiliar with our site. He therefore willingly gave us some information about his recollections of Adam, before reluctantly declining the offer to answer some scripted questions until he had informed himself of our site.

Mr Durrant ultimately looked at our site, spoke with some of his colleagues, and declined an interview with us on the topic of Adam Liaw.

But this didn’t stop us from loosely transcribing the tantalising, off-the-cuff insights he gave us on our first phone call.

Mr Durrant divulged that Adam (who incredibly started with the firm as a 20yo graduate) returned to Kelly & Co a few weeks earlier for a some catch-up drinks. We naturally pondered - was there a gourmet debrecina in a bun with cheese at the catch-up drinks, Mr Durran?

MD: … The fridge and pantry is always stocked-up here at Kelly & Co, so there was plenty to eat and drink!

Really? Food and drink, bought by the firm?

Yes. According to Durran, and to our own very intensive independent research, Kelly & Co Lawyers have taken the lead of major modern-day corporations such as Google by generously providing staff with food and drinks in the firm’s break room. Not “possum poo” fair trade coffee or cancelled cream biscuits, but healthy food, drinks, and a willingness to make junior lawyers feel like an integral part of the firm.

MD: we operate with a much flatter structure than major Australian firms so junior lawyers feel much less like they are simply a cog in a big machine.

And with all this free food and drink around, it is probably little wonder that budding lawyer Adam Liaw developed a taste for the kitchen fineries that would one day lead him to Australia’s most famous kitchen. Thankfully, the break room treats apparently didn’t stop Adam from focusing on his work, with Durrant mentioning that Liaw was regarded by his mentors as a diligent and focused junior lawyer.

But did Mr Liaw give the Kelly & Co break-room fridge a name? Unfortunately, we didnt get a clear answer on this one, although Liaw does appear to have history in naming inanimate kitchen objects:

Naming my furniture. My fridge’s name is Steve.*

Also disappointingly, we didn’t get the opportunity to ask Mr Durrant whether Liaw’s time at Kelly & Co may have prompted Liaw to make the following comment on his Twitter account:

Don’t you ever sit down at your computer when there are all these windows popping at you and emails shouting at you and just think…… I could just burn all this shit to the ground.*

Likewise, we missed the chance to ask Mr Durrant whether he agrees that drinking a Fujizakura microbrew with a side of grilled salmon can turn an ordinary heterosexual male into a “blissful homo”  (from Liaw’s Twitter account):

Watching football on the couch with some grilled salmon, a salad and a Fujizakura microbrew. Blissful, but somehow I feel like a homo.*

But all of this is moot anyhow, because the jury is back in and Adam Liaw is a Masterchef! And by our reckoning, Liaw is Australia’s first Masterchef who apparently has a taste for:

• hookers;
• blow;
• secret sex parties;
  
• blissful homos; and
• burning shit to the ground.

Will you order the “chef’s special” at Liaw’s restaurant?

Send the Firm Spy your news and views!

* These comments have been deleted from Adam Liaw’s Twitter account since our post of 20 May 2010.

The Firm Spy will soon be comprehensively updating its weekly newsletter. Part of this update will be the inclusion of stories that don’t feature on our website. So if you want to keep up-to-date with all of our gossip, rumours and news, please type your email address in the column to the right underneath the apt heading “weekly newsletter”. Be sure to click the “subscribe” button too.

knock the top off one!

Onto more pressing matters; namely, The Firm Spy 2010 Remuneration Survey. In conjunction with Legal Monkey, we have been asking all our readers from Australian law firms to kindly - and anonymously - enter their remuneration details in an online survey (available here).

We have had an incredible response so far, but still need everyone’s assistance to get accurate pay-brackets across all offices of all firms. So keep up the fantastic work! Enter your details here.

Some of the more colourful comments we have so far received in response to our question “what makes you happy/sad/ambivalent about your firm include:

A graduate from Mallesons in Sydney wrote:

I dont like the fact that most graduates are ignored by their partner/partner pretends they don’t exist. I don’t like the extremely high billable hour target (5 hours before qualification and 7 after) when for most firms it is about two hours lower per day.

A seventh year Freehills lawyer wrote:

Sad (frustrated): the long hours and unpredictability of the long hours. Always expected to be “on call” on Blackberry.

An Allens Arthur Robinson third year wrote:

REALLY frustrated about pay review - I regularly bill at 135% of my billable target, work crazy hours and weekends for an extra $5000?!? I had been holding out for ‘better’ times with a firm I previously felt loyal to - but with all the cutbacks, additional enforced christmas leave time, lack of any form of morale boost and now the poor pay increase, I’m very flat and disenchanted.

The message we are getting from management - not a single reassuring word - they still have more lawyers than they need and want ppl to leave

A Corrs fifth year wrote:

[the firm] runs on the smell of an oily rag. It’s easier to solve global warming than to get a free lunch out of Corrs.

A Blake Dawson sixth year wrote:

salary increase not in line with market rate, following no increase last year. Definitely not a market leader, although I suspect others at my level are probably getting paid more. Overlooked in promotions. Feel undervalued.

And our favourite - a second year at Minter Ellison wrote:

Minter Ellison is the cheapest firm in the solar system. Right down to my partner refusing to send paper Christmas cards and sending out an electronic card at 5pm on Christmas eve.

We intend to start posting remuneration information for each of the firms in early August. So you’ve all got weekend work:

• fill in The Firm Spy 2010 Remunerations Survey;
• sign up for our weekly newsletter; and
• consume heavy liquor to drink away the winter blues.

Send the Firm Spy your news and views!

Baritone belly-man Matt “I-hide-my-chins-with-a-tea-towel” Preston may have slightly piqued the Firm Spy’s interest in this year’s edition of Masterchef. But nothing, not even a Lander & Rogers chest-waxing featuring Masterchef contestant Peter Kritikides, has come within a lightly-seared cow’s rump of evoking our interest in the show like the allegation that former Clayton Utz lawyer, contestant Claire WInton Burn, had a secret love affair with a MARRIED former colleague.

over-valued?

In mid-June we quoted The Daily Telegraph which reported:

[Claire] is in a relationship with a work colleague at … Clayton Utz … the colleague left his wife and three children for Claire just after the birth of his third child [we have since been informed that the man has only one child]. A recent interview Claire gave to New Idea set a cat among the pigeons at the law firm when Claire named the man as her “partner”, something which also shocked the ex who is struggling at home alone with a baby and two other young ones.

Despite knowing the identity of the alleged male in question, the Firm Spy originally declined to name him. We were concerned that doing so would cause undue stress to the single mother dealing with the marital breakdown allegedly brought on by Masterchef’s Claire Winton Burn, while at once mothering an infant. Nincompoop Highly esteemed paparazzo Jamie Fawcett - who hilariously refers to himself as “an accreditated [sic] journalist” - had an issue with our logic regarding the naming of the cuckold. We think he may have been involved (but we are speculating) in snapping the photos of the gentleman that appear in this week’s edition of Woman’s Day beside the following edited extract of an accompanying article revealing the man’s identity:

Making a rare public appearance outside the Masterchef kitchen, contestant Claire Winton Burn showed off more than just a first look at her lawyer beau Trevor Thomas - she also flaunted a new sparkler on her engagement finger… While Claire has refused to discuss allegations that she was a factor in the break-up of Trevor’s marriage… it seems her relationship is heating up as quickly as the cooking competitiion. Claire’s dazzling new rock suggests the pair have taken the next step - and there’s speculation she will soon be planning a very special menu… for her wedding guests. “If anything, it’s made us stronger,” Claire says of the rumours about her relationship and adds that marriage and babies aren’t out of the question, “One day it’d be lovely to do all those types of things.”

Indeed it would be lovely Claire, but don’t count your chickens before they hatch. Cook them, but don’t fertilise count them!

New Idea reported:

The former work colleagues at Clayton Utz law firm began dating after Trevor, 36, separated from his wife XXXXXX in December 2008, when his only child XXXXX was 22 months old.

It appears that several months before Clayton Utz’s Trevor Thomas allegedly decided to leave his wife and newborn for Claire, he had the temerity to assert “The value is whatever I say it is”. He also dubiously gave the following advice to students considering undertaking a graduate degree at the Melbourne University Law School:

The course obviously involves a great deal of work and commitment and, while it might sound trite, it is the type of degree where the more you put into it, the more you get out of it. Consequently, one really needs to make the appropriate amount of time available to devote to study.

Work, commitment, devotion, values; gee Trev, it sounds an awful lot like … A MARRIAGE!

Best of luck with the next one!

Send the Firm Spy your news and views!

For beleaguered graduates still on the job-hunt despite graduating many months ago, it appears that the entry-level legal jobs market at the top-tier is still suffering. By comparing the number of graduates recruited in the six months to July 2010, with the same period in 2009, the following statistics from the AFR show each of the seven largest Australian firms has significantly reduced their number of intakes this year.

a law graduate yesterday

• Firm: Mallesons Stephen Jaques
  Number of graduates Jan-July 2010: 91
  Number of graduates Jan-June 2009: 128

• Firm: Freehills
  Number of graduates Jan-July 2010: 86
  Number of graduates Jan-June 2009: 96

• Firm: Minter Ellison
  Number of graduates Jan-July 2010: 78
  Number of graduates Jan-June 2009: 104

• Firm: Allens Arthur Robinson
  Number of graduates Jan-July 2010: 75
  Number of graduates Jan-June 2009: 76

• Firm: Blake Dawson
  Number of graduates Jan-July 2010: 58
  Number of graduates Jan-June 2009: 77

• Firm: Corrs Chambers Wesgarth
  Number of graduates Jan-July 2010: 39
  Number of graduates Jan-June 2009: 53

• Firm: Clayton Utz
  Number of graduates Jan-July 2010: 35
  Number of graduates Jan-June 2009: 76

While these statistics are very bad news for those who have already graduated, the statistics below may be of considerable relevance to those still undertaking their studies and wondering where they will find their graduate job. Last year we compiled an analysis of the number of seasonal clerkships offered by each of the top-tier firms mentioned above and compared that number with the number of graduate positions offered by each of the same firms. In so doing, we were able to formulate a a percentage for each firm representing the likelihood that a seasonal clerk would ultimately receive a graduate offer. In 2009, the probability that seasonal clerks would be offered a graduate position were (approximately) as follows:

• Corrs Chambers Westgarth 80% (53/66)
• Clayton Utz 65% (96/147)
• Freehills 63% (120/190)
• Mallesons 54% (135/248)
• Allens Arthur Robinson 45% (94/206)
• Blake Dawson 45% (85/185)

At a time when there is still a tight jobs market, university students with several seasonal clerkship offers should probably pay attention to these stats when considering where they should spend the summer.

Send the Firm Spy your news and views!

Since we’ve been on the air, we have probably published only a dozen or so stories that are truly out-of-this-world. Stories where it becomes clear that despite their glitzy daytime braggadocio, corporate partners are just everyday, if occasionally insufferable, members of society.

a European UFO

One of those stories was published in October 2009. We are going to completely re-post it below so that we can give context to the from-another-planet update that will follow thereafter:

From the October 2009 post:

Mere weeks after being embroiled in one of the most embarassing case-management stuff-ups of 2009, Brydens Compensation Lawyers are apparently involved in yet another, though potentially more damaging, public spat. (Thanks very much the anonymous tipster alerting us to this gold.)

By way of background, a website apparently exists in which ordinary, non-legal folks can post legally oriented questions; lawyers then frequent the site (www.justanswer.com) and help these people with their question for a small fee (we think).

We were sent a link [ED since deleted] to the following incredible legal query and its associated responses:

My wife advertised her car for sale and had an email response from a very overbearing person, he was dictating to her, what he was going to do. It frightened her… she asked me to reply, which i did… I then received 8 emails in a row. Now the person is openly defaming me, calling me a psychotic. drug user, a liar, a loser, insane and the list goes on… he has sent some 50 emails from his place of employment…

It’s no use going to his employers, he’s the CEO, and it’s a law firm… how do I stop him? …The car sales site clearly showed my wife to be japanese by her name, and I believe he was trying to intimidate her from the beginning… he has gone completely off the planet.

This query was reponded to by lawyer “Maurice” who advised:

…if he has placed your wife in the state of mind you have described where she feels threatened you neeed to call the police… communicating with the owners of the law firm needs to be the next step… it goes to the very heart of how the law firm want to be represented in the market place… I would put a call into the firm and ask the question “who are the owners”, or “if one were to lodge a complaint against the CEO of the firm who would I need to contact or speak to?” If you dont get the information you need you may need to contact the local media in QLD…”

Finally, the disgruntled salesman wrote this:

Without doubt he is the CEO. I have ascertained who one of the partners is…’ he is a councillor of the Law Society. I went to the law firm yesterday; to be shepherded by a solicitor who says it’s nothing to do with the firm, it’s a private matter.

I’m going to name names now; his name is XXXX XXXXXXXX, he is the CEO/General Manager of Brydens Compensation Lawyers in Sydney. I have just now emailed Robert Bryden, partner, and have requested an urgent response.

The dialogue ends at this point and it is unclear how, or even if, Brydens Lawyers have resolved the matter. Are you ready to go ‘completely off the planet’ on this fabulous Friday?

You’ll note above that we used our editorial discretion to redact the name of the UFO CEO/General Manager of Brydens Lawyers. However, with thanks to the implied admission contained in the email exchange allegedly featuring Brydens Lawyers’ CEO below, we think we can finally use the Firm Spy satellite broadcast his name (thanks very much to the Brydens Lawyers spy who sent the excellent tip!):

From: XXXX XXXXXX <XXXXXXXXXXX@gmail.com>

Date: Tue, 6 Oct 2009 18:18:45 +1100

To: Paul Brandalise<paulb@brydens.com.au>

Subject: Re: New Enquiry

Hi Paul

Is this you?  http://firmspy.com/law-disorder/2180/brydens-in-big-bother-ceo-in-alleged-japanese-car-sale-harassment-debacle

Regards

XXXX

On Tue, Oct 6, 2009 at 9:13 PM, <brandalisep@telstra.ap.blackberry.net> wrote:

XXXX or whoever you are , I am very disturbed at the.distortion of the facts in this fable. For the record. It was a European and not a Japanese car !!! But I am pleased to see that there is a forum in this world for neurotic drug affected despots to air their fantasies.

Cheers

Sent via BlackBerry® from Telstra

We’re now asking Mr Brandalise to clarify what facts, other than the origin of the car, were “distorted” in our original post. Or was the heritage of the car the only distortion?

Email us direct please Paul at news@firmspy.com.

Is Firm Spy the only “forum in this world for drug affected despots to air their fantasies”? Or is Paul Brandalise “off the planet” and in some other world governed by drug affected despots?

Send the Firm Spy your news and views!

Our friends inside Minter Ellison have repeatedly told us in recent weeks that quality lawyers are departing the firm in unprecedented numbers. Preliminary results on the FIrm Spy Remuneration Survey (please continue the great work with the survey by clicking here) suggest to us that the financial incentive to stay certainly isn’t overwhelming.

rocking your next corporate event

So it should not have come as a surprise that the firm decided to do something to try to lift morale, and this appears to have taken shape with a sticky firm bash! A few weeks ago we received the following comments from an anonymous Minters spy:

The big wigs at Minters last week decided we should hold an end of financial year party… at the Park Hyatt.

Geee - can’t wait for the party pies and sausage rolls!

The lavish party was apparently held last week, with another anonymous Minter Ellison spy sending us the following summary of events:

I thought it was inappropriate for [Minter Ellison Chief Executive Partner] John Weber to use his speech at our Christmas-in-July firm function to talk about “fiscal uncertainty”. It appeared to me that John was using the speech as an underhanded means to justify the disgraceful pay-rises that staff have received. In my mind, his speech converted a mediocre firm function into an event that gave staff more reason to be anxious about the direction of the firm. Not much of a celebration John!

But while John’s speech might have been a bit of a low point, the choice of DJ/MC for the event appears to have been a major hit with those in attendance. We received the following comments from another anonymous Minter Ellison spy:

How far has former radio personality Stick Mareebo fallen? He has gone from hosting a nationally-broadcast radio program, to MC-ing a Minter Ellison EOFY party! And not very well, I might add.

Indeed, it appears Stick Mareebo is available for corporate functions! But is he the right man to lift staff morale out of the gutter?

Send the Firm Spy your news and views!