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A law firm’s long and tortured history of litigation against its former director and shareholder ended with persistent and unethical communication to the court that was, “at its lowest, disrespectful”.
Justice David Hammerschlag of the NSW Supreme Court ruled in favour of John Forster Emmott, a former director and shareholder of Michael Wilson & Partners who was accused of plotting to form a new partnership, the Temujin Partnership, while working at the firm.
The litigation has been “complex, long and involved”, having spanned across a number of jurisdictions, such as the NSW Supreme Court, the ACT Supreme Court, and the High Court of Australia. It has also appeared in central Asia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.
In a decision handed down earlier this week, Justice Hammerschlag ordered Michael Wilson & Partners to pay Emmott the sum of $221,200 as a gross sum instead of an assessed sum. This was in addition to costs on an indemnity basis for a failed adjournment application.
In the lead-up to the costs proceedings, founder Michael Wilson missed a deadline to file an affidavit or written submissions, but he did file a notice of motion seeking an extension of time the day after.
While Justice Hammerschlag did grant this extension, he noted the application was “not burdened with merit”, particularly because the excuse of having an illness did not line up with Wilson’s ability to generate numerous documents and communicate with the court.
“He has had conduct of these proceedings for years and is a highly experienced legal practitioner whom, one would expect, would have little difficulty in responding to the material relied upon by Emmott in respect of the gross sum costs order,” Justice Hammerschlag said.
When Wilson’s request to appear remotely was refused, he demanded to know why he was made to show up in person.
Justice Hammerschlag said Wilson has “persistently acted unethically” by his frequent and improper communications with the court, including complaints of serious misconduct against Emmott.
“The language used by him is, at its lowest, disrespectful to the court,” Justice Hammerschlag said.
Wilson’s behaviour was found to have offended the Legal Profession Uniform Law Australian Solicitors’ Conduct Rules 2015.
In an affidavit, Wilson claimed the costs assessor was a “retired solicitor working from home whilst on a pension” and claimed he could not be “equated to … working at a firm of solicitors in downtown Sydney, with teams of lawyers, systems, facilities, back-up and overhead and cannot therefore claim Sydney law firm rates”.
In several emails, Wilson also claimed Justice Hammerschlag had inflicted on him “gross injustice and enormous wrongs”.
“Allowing Wilson to appear remotely would hamper the court’s ability to supervise his conduct as an officer of the court,” Justice Hammerschlag determined in his written reasons.
The case is Michael Wilson & Partners Ltd as the assignee of Robert Colin Nicolls & Temujin International Limited (as trustee of Temujin International (trading) Trust) & Temujin Services Limited v Emmott – Gross Sum Costs Order [2025] NSWSC 179.
Naomi Neilson is a senior journalist with a focus on court reporting for Lawyers Weekly.
You can email Naomi at:
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