Sunday, 29 October 2006: The allegations made in the Sunday Age articles were thoroughly dealt with in the Court of Appeal in BATAS v Cowell and were also subject to a full regulatory investigation in both Victoria and NSW.
The Court of Appeal exonerated Clayton Utz of any wrong doing.
The draft internal partnership documents referred to in the newspaper articles were never finalised and were superseded by the investigations undertaken by the Victorian Legal Ombudsman and the NSW Legal Services Commissioner, who had full access to all files and statements by the individuals involved.
Clayton Utz partners, both current and former, were exonerated by those investigations.
Clayton Utz is disappointed and concerned draft confidential internal partnership material was disclosed in the manner it was by The Age newspaper.