KPMG, Allens burnt but sunlight fails to disinfect
Allens is getting fried, in more ways than one. Plus: who’s heading to this weekend’s conservative legal lock-in, and the latest partner moves.
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Allens’ top brass weren’t alone last Friday squirming before Senator Deborah O’Neill’sKPMG inquisition. Up in Sydney, the firm’s ground troops were just as uncomfortable.
Allens has shifted its harbour city HQ into a new set of digs – fittingly, for the oldest firm in the country, in the oldest skyscraper in town by Circular Quay.
Compared to the firm’s former 21st century suite, it’s a downgrade, some staff say. There are gripes about cramped workspaces and narrow corridors. The café has been running out of food.
Staff are getting toasty in Allens’ new home at 33 Alfred St, Sydney. Dylan Coker
Menstrual products, a standard in big firm bathrooms, are sometimes nowhere to be found. There are no floor numbers in the internal staircase – cue some very lost graduates.
And then, a week or so ago, this office-wide email: “Due to the time of year, the sun is currently lower in the sky which may result in more direct sunlight.”
“If the sun is bothering you, please utilise the blinds or consider booking an alternative desk away from the windows.”
This is just the kind of advice you’d expect from a firm whose contribution, for much of the KPMG audit leak saga, has been to prevent the sun from shining in.
Allens’ partner Ross Drinnan was one of those who counselled KPMG through its initial, disastrous strategy of refusing to hand over privileged documents to O’Neill’s committee.
And before that, it was Allens that chose not to turn over every stone when called in to investigate a whistleblower’s claims of leaks and broken confidences. In its first report, Allens mostly exonerated KPMG, even though the law firm:
Summoned back to Canberra last Friday, a defiant Drinnan declared he “stand[s] by” the firm’s work – even though several of the whistleblower’s allegations have now been proven.
Allens partners Ross Drinnan and Chris Kerrigan, plus managing partner Marc Kemp. Alex Ellinghausen
Drinnan had a way of squaring this circle: “There is a significant amount of information that is now available, which, if it had been available at the time, may have led to a different result.”
“It was available!” Liberal Senator Paul Scarrshot back. “You chose not to get it.”
In fact, on KPMG’s own evidence, Allens advisedthe auditor that there was no need to go hunting for inconvenient truths – better to just trust denials from a clutch of senior KPMG insiders.
“We had quite rigorous discussions with Allens in regards to [whether Allens should interview others], and we accepted their advice that it was reasonable and proportionate at the time,” KPMG deputy chair Carmel Mortell told the committee.
KPMG deputy chair Carmel Mortell and chairman Michael Ebeid. Alex Ellinghausen
So Allens had a hand in setting the scope for their inquiry. The law firm’s protests that they were just following orders – or “carefully, thoroughly” working through KPMG’s instructions, as Drinnan put it – count for very little when it was Allens who helped write those instructions.
Corporate clients commission these kinds of investigations, yes, to assure the world they’re getting to the bottom of things, but also to cloak their possible wrongdoing in legal privilege: take our word for it, a bunch of crack lawyers have looked into this, it’s all ok – no, you can’t see the gory details.
Is that why it’s so tempting for the lawyers to do a half-way job? Because they know, normally, their reports will never be released to face public scrutiny?
A spokeswoman for Allens said the firm’s work was consistent with its ethical and legal duties. “We reject any suggestion that the privileged and confidential nature of our legal work diminishes the rigour, professional independence or integrity with which we undertake it.”
Still, it’s hard to disagree with Greens Senator Barbara Pocock:
“Allens, your [original report] is very poor. It is very, very poor work, and I think you should give up investigations.”
That’s all for now.
– Janek
