Page 13: Inside legal eagles’ cutthroat world

Forget courtroom battles, it’s all about what floor you work on for Melbourne’s most highly sought-after QCs.

It’s all about chambers with a view for Melbourne’s most highly sought-after QCs.

They deal with murder, corruption and royal commissions.

But when a top silk shifts to a higher floor at chambers, that’s when the argy bargy moves from courtrooms to bathrooms and endless hours wrangling over drinks at the Essoign Club at Owen Dixon East on William Street.

The gossipy chatter of late has been about Renee Enbom QC moving in with Matt Collins QC at Aicken chambers on the 34th floor in Queen Street.

Some say the move is over a fallout between Enbom and her former mentor, hot shot QC Georgina Schoff.

Unbeatable and unflappable, these highly sought-after female Queen’s Counsellors are considered the best in the litigation business. They shared chambers alongside Schoff’s husband, the respected William Houghton QC, at Owen Dixon West chambers on the 24th floor.

The commercial QCs have long worked together but were on opposing sides during the REBEL WILSON defamation case.

When it comes to litigation, things can get personal in and out of court. The stakes are high and the clients want their bulldog barristers to draw blood. It’s why they pay the big bucks.

But Enbom says there was no falling out. She says her move was all about a change of pace after lockdown and, well, a better view.

Schoff was quick to say the same, adding she regarded Enbom as “a good friend” and that there was nothing to see here, despite the view.

Enbom’s co-counsel Collins from the Rebel Wilson case calls it the “Manhattan view”, where she can see out to the MCG and the top of the Supreme Court.

In Sydney, barrister Richard Beasley wrote the novel Hell has Harbour Views — heaven if you made it to the 63rd floor but hell in crawling over the writhing bodies to get there.

A view of the Supreme Court dome is the Melbourne version.

“When you first join the bar it becomes apparent certain things are very important to aspire to,” said one top silk (speaking from his chambers with a view).

“Like getting a window room overlooking the dome. That is the Victorian kind of Harbour view, which admittedly is not that flash. We are the southern state, after all.”

It’s all part of the wrangling between commercial and criminal barristers.

One criminal lawyer told Page 13 the commercial silks on the floor above him referred to their chambers as the “favelas”, with the criminal barristers crammed in and the commercial lawyers spread out in the palatial chambers upstairs.

“The criminal barristers carry this chip on their shoulders, they are regarded as lower deck,” the lawyer said.

“The fee makers are regarded as only trying cases for money, unlike the criminal barristers who are doing things for justice.

“But the criminal lawyers are known for having the best parties.”

The famous Aickin Chambers at 200 Queens Street now boasts 14 floors of barristers.

But back in the ’90s the then fledgling chambers on the 27th floor was split between what was commonly known as the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

“Over on the West Bank is where you had the senior commercial silks, all of whom became judges in the Supreme and Federal courts,” a silk explained as he strolled to court.

“There was that well-worn aftershave known as essence of wallet. Over on the criminal side, on the Gaza Strip, it was sort of the blue-singlet area. That’s how it was seen.”

All positively Rumpole-esque. And when it comes to who gets what room, that’s where knives come out and the lobbying begins.

“There are whispers behind closed doors and meetings that sometimes take place in toilets,” the silk said.

“It’s all down to the size of room.”

But back to Embom, who has been briefed for the state on the hotel quarantine class actions. Plenty to see there.