Slater & Gordon's General Counsel, Moana Weir, has quit the firm after less than two months in the job. Which is about enough time to have an induction, meet other staff, learn how to use the IT and then leave again.

Weir had joined the battered P&I firm on 29 January this year, but S&G announced that her resignation was immediately effective on 24th March. The firm added that it would fill the GC role with an external advisor "while re-assessing its business viability needs". Weir had also held the post of company secretary, and so S&G has scrambled to appoint the current Chief Financial Officer, Bruce Houghton, to fill that role.

 



Weir's welcome and leaving party *

 

Things are not looking rosy at the firm, as it has faced recent lay-offs, probes into the business, the share price falling through the floor, huge losses, and panicking staff. It has even got its strategy wrong in trying to attract new clients. This week, the firm's share price dropped to a record low of 25 cents.

And there are other problems in the office, as a Slater & Gordon staff member told RollOnFriday that water was recently cascading through one of the ceilings of the Manchester office because "the dishwasher on the floor above had been plumbed in incorrectly". Which may have been the firm's attempt at imitating Irwin Mitchell, or a sinking ship. And as a further cry for help, RollOnFriday's source said that the aircon has been on "height of Australian summer" settings in the office, resulting in her wearing "fingerless gloves" so that she could still type, and forcing other staff to wear winter jackets.

Otherwise, all seems to be going well.

* A RollOnFriday reconstruction
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Comments

Anonymous 01 April 16 08:14

I know all at roll on Friday have a dream of being whisked off to a magic circle firm and look down on the PI profession, but this constant hand wringing over the prospect over hundreds of job losses makes you seem like a right shower.

Anonymous 01 April 16 08:53

Pi has had its day. This firm is going to struggle to avoid breaking up or being broken up and sold.

Anonymous 02 April 16 00:36

The Altman Z-score scale which measures common features of distressed companies and can be used for assessing probability of bankruptcy is

Z > 2.99 -“Safe” Zone
1.81 < Z < 2.99 -“Gray” Zone
Z < 1.81 -“Distress” Zone

Slater and Gordon's current score is 3.1

Anonymous 04 April 16 23:36

The U.K. LLP has a credit score of 51 and a credit limit (how much credit a supplier should give to it) of 0 (yes zero). Take from that what you will.