Gadens is being dragged through the Australian press after providing allegedly negligent advice to a client.
Back in 2003 the firm cooked up a clever tax avoidance scheme for John Symond, the head of home loan giant Aussie, when he restructured the company. Unfortunately the Australian Tax Office decided it wasn't that clever, and told Symond to pay $11 million in back taxes. After ATO and Symond came to a settlement in 2007 the famous businessman trained his guns on Gadens and in 2009 he sued it, claiming its tax advice was "negligent, misleading or deceptive".
Now the case is being heard in the Supreme Court and, thanks to Symond's big public profile, Gadens is getting oodles of free publicity. But probably not the sort it wants. Last week Symond's barrister bashed Gadens' "completely wrong advice". Now the court has heard how Symond avoided paying tax on $58 million which he used to build a Sydney mansion. Juicy stuff, which means Gadens has once again been splashed in an unflattering light everywhere from the Telegraph to the Sunday Mail.
Back in 2009 Gadens put a brave face on things, telling Asian Legal Business that "it's just an ordinary incident that law firms deal with". Now, four years and lots of headlines later, it might be time for a rethink. The firm did not respond to RollOnFriday's request for comment.
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Back in 2003 the firm cooked up a clever tax avoidance scheme for John Symond, the head of home loan giant Aussie, when he restructured the company. Unfortunately the Australian Tax Office decided it wasn't that clever, and told Symond to pay $11 million in back taxes. After ATO and Symond came to a settlement in 2007 the famous businessman trained his guns on Gadens and in 2009 he sued it, claiming its tax advice was "negligent, misleading or deceptive".
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Symond taking negligent, misleading and deceptive advice yesterday |
Now the case is being heard in the Supreme Court and, thanks to Symond's big public profile, Gadens is getting oodles of free publicity. But probably not the sort it wants. Last week Symond's barrister bashed Gadens' "completely wrong advice". Now the court has heard how Symond avoided paying tax on $58 million which he used to build a Sydney mansion. Juicy stuff, which means Gadens has once again been splashed in an unflattering light everywhere from the Telegraph to the Sunday Mail.
Back in 2009 Gadens put a brave face on things, telling Asian Legal Business that "it's just an ordinary incident that law firms deal with". Now, four years and lots of headlines later, it might be time for a rethink. The firm did not respond to RollOnFriday's request for comment.