Am i going mad but this seems completely insane . I’m sure some very clever male lawyers and politicians can explain to me how stupid i am but i’m at a loss for words…
The Guardian reports
Annette Kimmitt emailed 2,500 staff apologising for any ‘pain’ after a lawyer at the firm took the attorney general as a client
The chief executive of MinterEllison has reportedly stepped down, after a furore erupted about the law firm representing Christian Porter.
Annette Kimmitt will leave the firm in coming months, the Australian Financial Review reported, after the board told her that her position was no longer tenable after a meeting on Tuesday.
Kimmitt sent an email to the firm’s more than 2,500 staff last week after learning that one of its most experienced lawyers, Peter Bartlett, was representing Porter, who last week identified himself as the cabinet minister at the centre of a rape allegation, which he categorically denied.
She apologised for any “pain” caused by the decision to take the attorney general on as a client, claiming that Bartlett had not gone through the proper approval process before taking the case and that she had only learned about his involvement from the media.
“The nature of this matter is clearly causing hurt to some of you, and it has certainly triggered hurt for me,” she wrote.
The board’s chairman, David O’Brien, the other nine members of the board, and MinterEllison’s media department did not respond to a request for comment from Guardian Australia about whether Kimmitt would be leaving the firm, which is one of the largest in Australia.
Guardian Australia understands Porter hired Bartlett more than four months before going public to deny the rape allegation.
