On 1 January 2001 Dibbs Crowther & Osborne merged with Barker Gosling to create the national firm Dibbs Barker. On its “about us” page, Dibbs Barker today declares that it:

progression

is a leading commercial legal service provider.  With offices in Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra and Perth the firm comprises over 54 partners and in excess of 330 legal and support staff nationally.

A couple of years after the merger that created the firm, former Dibbs Barker CEO Paul Gregory was quoted by our friends at ALB in the following way:

Dibbs Barker CEO Paul Gregory says firms most likely to feel the squeeze are those that are neither boutique nor have the depth of practice clients increasingly require. “There’ll continue to be pressure on firms that are not of critical mass in the city,” he says. “I’d be concerned if I was a partner in a 10-partner or 15-partner firm - they’re a little bit in no man’s land… [mid-tier] is where we want to position ourselves anyway… It is difficult to provide that full service, no doubt. That was one of the reasons for the merger… we knew our size was not attractive to young lawyers; we were not seen as progressive.”

Ironically, Mr Paul Gregory now finds himself squarely in “man’s land”, although it bears no relation to his legal strategem all those years ago. No, Paul Gregory was sentenced to two year’s jail a few weeks ago for his involvement in advising Glenn Wheatley on ways to defraud the Australian Taxation Office.

As reported by our friends at AFR (22/4):

The prosecution of Paul Gregory, the 61-year-old former head of Sydney law firm Dibbs Barker Gosling… was the first of an advisor arising out of Project Wickenby… When sentencing Gregory, Victorian Supreme Court Judge Simon Whelan said he should receive a harsher penalty than his client Wheatley… because of the need to provide general deterrence to other advisors… Justice Whelan said Gregory’s conduct “involved blatant dishonesty and the exploitation of your position as a solicitor… [it was]  of the first importance that others similarly placed appreciate that the consequences of deceptive manoeuvvres will be severe”.

Funnily enough, it turns out the Gregory’s conduct occurred at or about the time he gave the above interview to ALB. As reported by the AFR:

the jury convicted Gregory after being presented with a “smoking gun”, a 2003 email chain in which Gregory planned to create “the illusion of a genuine commercial dispute” with the overseas company to allow Mr Wheatley to pay $400,00 overseas “so the appearance would be, to an outsider, that this was a legitimate payment by Mr Wheatley”.

It is unclear what the appearance would be, to an outsider, of Dibbs Barker after this forgettable episode. Is it “pregressive” and “attractive” to young lawyers?

Or is a stint in “man’s land” a better option?

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