Law firm Dentons sought to bury bullying findings against a senior partner to protect his reputation in the legal market and avoid damage to the firm’s local expansion plans, according to an internal email.

The email, seen by The Australian Financial Review, is part of a tranche of confidential internal communications that were improperly stored by the firm on its intranet. This allowed some staff to view senior partners’ communications about the bullying findings and details of a secret settlement between the firm and its former partner Guy Albeck.