Thanks to the anonymous Minter Ellison spy who sent us the following humourous comments yesterday:

FINGERNAIL SIZED HOLE

The maintenance, non-fee earning staff at Minter Ellison (probably much like all Aussie law firms) need to get a clue. In our office, we have one busy-body facilities man who has somehow been empowered to bother the entire Melbourne office with emails whenever he sees fit.

Whenever he receives something which he thinks may be of interest to the firm, he flicks it on.

The trouble is, #### ##### has no idea about what is appropriate for circulation. Earlier this week, for example, he flicked around an advertisement to a sleep clinic promoting the need to ‘get your eight hours each night’. With Minters partners constantly riding us like some kind of animal, how on earth can we hope to get a solid eight hours of kip?

More importantly, does our maintenance man have an interest in this crooked enterprise?

These are valid questions and the Firm Spy seeks your comment. We would also love to hear your thoughts on the prospects of budding Minter Ellison litigator Alicia Prpich, about whom the Firm Spy received the following anonymous comments:

Firm Spy, I notice that you have declined to report on that damsel-in-distress, Minters grad Alisha Prpich, who preferred the prospect of a full-blown VCAT trial to getting out her mother’s sewing kit…

This cryptic tip-off led us to the following article from the Herald Sun a few weeks ago:

SASSY sisters Cassie and Alisha Prpich were yesterday celebrating the defeat of a clothing store that refused a refund for a faulty dress and accused them of wearing and damaging it. Cassie, 23, told VCAT… she’d bought the dress for her father’s wedding. But she said when she tried it on again … her sister [Alisha] saw a hole the size of a fingernail. But they said aggressive staff refused a refund and accused them of wearing and damaging the dress. “They told me that I didn’t buy a faulty dress and that I was wasting my time, and that I could go away and complain to Consumer Affairs if I wanted to,” Cassie told the Herald Sun.

Gasp store manager Eddie Yilmaz told the tribunal customers often bought and wore dresses, then tried to return them. He said in one case a shop assistant had even seen wedding photographs of a customer wearing a dress that she returned after swearing she had not worn it. Mr Yilmaz said it was unlikely the dress had the hole when it was sold. He said most girls took 30 to 45 minutes to pick a dress, and they would notice a fault in that time. “We all know what ladies are like,” he said. Mr Yilmaz said the dress could have been damaged afterward. But VCAT member William Holloway disagreed and ordered Gasp to refund the $300 cost.

Legal studies student Alisha, 22, said stores probably turned away young customers as a business tactic. “How many girls would just have gone away and sewn up the hole after being told to go away by the shop?” she said.

The Firm Spy thinks most people would have gone away and sewn up the hole rather than enter protracted legal proceedings. But if a Minters grad can’t stand up for her rights, who can?

Send the Firm Spy your news and views!

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