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Top 10 legal stories in 2023 (so far)

As FY24 gets underway, Lawyers Weekly looks back at what’s been a fascinating but frantic six months of legal news. Here are the 10 most-read stories for lawyers for the year to date.

user iconLawyers Weekly • 01 July 2023 • Big Law
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  1. ‘Collecting salary while sitting on your ass’ text shows how far we still have to go
A text message in which a female lawyer was called a “soul-less and morally bankrupt person” by a colleague, after she resigned shortly after returning from a maternity leave period in which she had to perform work, is a reminder of the myriad uphill battles facing women in law.

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  1. MinterEllison pulls support for Adelaide Festival
National law firm MinterEllison cut ties with the Adelaide Festival following controversy over two of the program’s scheduled speakers.

  1. Son, be a lawyer
OPINION: I am retiring after 42 years of legal practice. Here are some hopefully helpful words to impart upon my younger colleagues, writes Mark O’Connor.

  1. Kiefel CJ to retire early
Susan Kiefel AC, the Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, will depart from the bench slightly earlier than the constitutionally mandated retirement age of 70.

  1. Quiet firing will replace quiet quitting, says partner
One BigLaw partner posited that the phenomenon of quiet quitting, where employees do the bare minimum, will be replaced by “quiet firing”, where employers provide limited opportunities to encourage them to leave.

  1. Victorian lawyer sunk client’s money into ‘bizarre’ scam
A former Victorian principal lawyer has faced criminal charges for stealing $420,000 from two clients’ estates and sinking most of their money into a failing company and a “bizarre” financial scam.

  1. Top 25 Attraction Firms unveiled for 2022–23
Lawyers Weekly, in partnership with Momentum Intelligence, is proud to reveal the law firms deemed most attractive for legal professionals if they were to leave their current employers.

  1. Breach of duty by HWL Ebsworth sees alleged client loss of $130m
A former client of BigLaw firm HWL Ebsworth has been found to have lost an opportunity to develop a property because of a “negligent failure” by the firm, alleged to have lost the former client $130 million.

  1. ‘Disrespectful, highly offensive and embarrassing’ conduct sees lawyer reprimanded
A Western Australia-based lawyer has been found to have engaged in professional misconduct and will not be granted a practising certificate for nine months following conduct that the State Administrative Tribunal noted “can only be described as both bizarre and disgusting”.

  1. ‘Friends with benefits’ questioned in Supreme Court dispute
A number of unusual matters had to be considered during a Supreme Court estate dispute, including what the meaning of “friends with benefits” was and what the ramifications of a cult childhood meant for one of the parties.

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