Sensitive Document Leaked to Firm Spy; Shine Lawyers “Profit Centers” Exposed

We saw on Friday an excellent article from News profiling the “gross and obvious overcharging” by law firms that use secretaries as “paralegals”.

Meanwhile, the Australian reported how the head of the Supreme Court of Queensland, Chief Justice Paul De Jersey, has called for the national banning of the term “paralegal” with reference to the practices of Shine Lawyers. The Australian reported:

Chief Justice de Jersey has previously taken a strong line against overcharging lawyers, ruling in one disciplinary action that the head of Shine Lawyers should be suspended for a year for “an intolerable rapacity” for ripping off a vulnerable client who was billed $300 an hour for a secretary’s work.

You’ll recall that Shine Lawyers is the same questionable outfit that hired Erin Brokovich as a representative of the firm ostensibly to lure mums and dads into believing she can help them win their personal injury case. Ms Brokovich, of course, cannot help them with their legal problems because she is not admitted to practice law.

Over the weekend, what appears to be a very sensitive Shine Lawyers documents was sent to the Firm Spy. It shows the names, positions and salaries of all staff across all offices of the firm. And if the suite of dubious job descriptions were placed before Chief Justice De Jersey, we expect his Honour would be vitriolic in his critique.

The document includes the following titles with hourly rates included in brackets* :

• junior paralegal ($18.60 p/h);
• paralegal ($19.35 p/h)
• senior paralegal ($26.06 p/h);
• specialist senior paralegal ($28.34 p/h);
• admin assistant ($10.17 p/h);
• law clerk ($20.41 p/h);
• PSD Clerk ($16.50 p/h);
• receptionist ($19.68 p/h);
• research assistant; ($20.24 p/h);
• Admin WP-Operator; ($22.77 p/h)

Unfortunately, the document declines to illustrate what each role earns for the firm and the magnitude of each “profit center”. However, one thing seems clear from the document – it would take a degree in law firm management to understand the differing responsibilities of each role. This is, of course, something which is likely beyond the grasp of mums and dads wondering why a they are paying such an exorbitant cut of their personal injury settlement for the services of a “paralegal”.

We commend the chairman of the Queensland Law Society’s ethics committee, Mr Brian Bartley, for directing the spotlight onto this kind of behaviour. Mr Bartley told The Australian:

it was a matter of great concern that such staff were highly lucrative “profit centres” whose actual value to law firms was many times greater than their annual salaries.

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*some people with the same job title are paid more or less in the document, suggesting that the job title bears little relation to remuneration. The figures included are examples found in the document and not the precise figure for all employees with the same title.