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PwC Archive

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Double-Dilution Dismay; Major Developments in Clayton Utz/Allen & Overy Defection Debacle

11 February 2010

We reported yesterday on the astute comments from an anonymous spy that the A&O foray into Australian soil might do no more than dilute its healthy equity pool. It is, of course, a huge risk. And while A&O risks the dilution of its equity, it appears that the defection may also soon result in a major additional strain on the remaining value of the equity points at Clayton Utz. This incredible update from an anonymous Clutz spy last night: I am told that a group of my colleagues, ranging from senior associates to senior lawyers, met privately yesterday to discuss the demands they would place on the Clayton Utz partnership to remain at the firm. I suspect, though I cannot be certain, that the senior associates/lawyers remaining in the affected (defective?) groups will be ...

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Minter Ellison Redundancies; Dozens Sacked After Pay Freeze

14 May 2009

It has emerged that Minter Ellison has sacked dozens of lawyers and support staff mere weeks after implementing a firm-wide pay freeze. As noted in the Financial Review: the lawyers range from ...

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Exclusive: Leaked Minter Ellison Email Exposes Partial Thaw of Pay Freeze

16 December 2009

We may have missed the scoop on the Freehills 'two-tiered' pay-freeze thaw (a major report on Freehills will be posted tomorrow, so check back for more on this), but today the Firm Spy is back wher...

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Minter Ellison Partners “Porno Forno” & “Horny Horsley” Allegedly Sent Simon Alroe Packing

16 October 2009

It has taken many phone calls to our sources all across the country to try to get to the bottom of what actually happened to cause Minter Ellison to de-equitise Simon Alroe from the partnership. This is what we have come up with, thanks to an anonymous spy: Minters partners Trent Forno (known by everyone in the industry as "Porno" Forno) and Ken Horsley (known "Horny" Horsley) were the brains behind the partnership decision to report Alroe's alleged harassment to the Qld Law Society. They did this with a view to having Alroe struck off the roll of solicitors. They took this action despite an offer being made by Ian Hangar QC to the partnership to mediate, which they rejected out of hand. Alroe has retained a silk in his criminal dispute as well as a different silk in his partn...

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Heading South; KPMG Audit Partners Banned Over Westpoint Audit

21 August 2009

Three KPMG partners have been banned as registered auditors until at least mid-2010 following their involvement in the audit of the Westpoint group of companies. As reported by the AFR (18/8): ...

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Clayton Utz Announces Pay Freeze, Ducks for Cover

14 May 2009

Clayton Utz chief executive partner Stuart Clark commented in yesterday's Financial Review that his firm had "not made a final decision yet" about legal salaries. He then stole the microphone from ...

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Firm Spy Remuneration Report – Freehills Lawyer Salaries

13 November 2009

Let's kick off this fabulous Friday with a revised version of our report into Freehills lawyer salaries. Together with Minter Ellison, Freehills is Australia's equal second largest firm by revenue....

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Rumour: Deloitte Staffers Busted “Sniffing Something” @ Melbourne EOFY Party

21 June 2011

It was extremely pleasing (read: we felt high on gossip) to receive the following comments from a person purporting to be a Deloitte insider last night: FirmSpy Last Friday saw Deloitte host an...

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50% Turnover Year on Year: KPMG Transaction Services Team Labelled “A Joke”

15 November 2011

It makes you wonder. If the ground is falling out from under a particular team and staff within that team are watching their utilisation plummet, there's no real business case to replace staffers w...

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Michael “Trench” Mitchell Comments on Clayton Utz “Stalkbook” Case

20 October 2009

Great work by our friends at Lawyers Weekly getting the following comments out of Michael Mitchell - the figure at the centre of claims Clayton Utz sexual misconduct: NSW case law clearly states that it is difficult, if not impossible, to determine if there is substance to an allegation prior to a substantive hearing' (Ehl v. Department of Education and Training) Therefore, it was deeply troubling that the President of the Anti-Discrimination Board dismissed all of my complaints as being without a substantive basis prior to a substantive hearing, especially considering that the President did not explain his reasons in any way.  Following the President's decision,  Clayton Utz's legal counsel Kate Easton argued that  in order for me to be granted leave to pursue my complaint, I was r...

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