Deputy Opposition Leader Julie Bishop claims Gillard didn’t open a file on the union slush fund at Slater & Gordon because she “wanted to hide from the AWU the fact that an unauthorised entity was being set up”. But Michael Bradley, managing partner at law firm Marque Lawyers, reckons not opening a file is “not unusual or out of the ordinary. That’s pretty common place for lawyers.”
Acknowledging it’s not ideal, he said: “There is a difference between best practice and normal practice, in reality.”
A Sydney-based private practice lawyer, who spoke anonymously, agrees it does happen, even among the top ranks. She argues lawyers deal with a lot of paperwork, they have people working for them who will open files on their behalf, and “it wouldn’t be surprising to the entire legal profession that some lawyer doesn’t recall the finer details of a case she worked on 20 years ago”.
Then there’s the issue of whether Gillard should have known something was wrong with the fund. “It’s not a lawyer’s role to second-guess the instructions that are given,” Bradley said. “A principal allegation against Ms Gillard is that she set up this association which didn’t comply with the rules of the union at the time. They are suggesting she should have made herself aware of this and refused to participate. In terms of a lawyer’s obligation, that allegation is just wrong.”