Over the weekend, Corrs Chambers Westgarth reached for the red button. Chairman Stephen Price emailed the firm to warn staff this column was shortly to report on the departure of star litigation and gender equality partner Felicity Healy.

Beyond softening up the troops, these types of front-run operations always seem to double as a nice way to spook them. In fact, Price said the firm was at that very moment investigating an “individual”, who the chairman said “made clear that their intention is to destabilise and damage the firm”.