Darwin lawyer Deborah Brackenreg sacked for calling opponent’s client a ‘c--t’, loses unfair dismissal case

The lawyer told the Fair Work Commission ‘under no circumstance would I ever use that profanity when speaking to a practitioner or any other person’ as it was ‘not in my nature’.

Deborah Brackenreg took the Men’s Legal Service to the Fair Work Commission seeking $72,000 in compensation after the firm fired her in February.

A Darwin lawyer who called her opposite number’s client a “c--t” and “gamed the system” to secure her colleague a pay rise has lost her case for unfair dismissal.

Deborah Brackenreg took the Men’s Legal Service to the Fair Work Commission seeking $72,000 in compensation after her employment was terminated by the firm in February.

Days earlier, the commission heard, legal practitioner director James Stokes had written to Ms Brakenreg’s representative informing her he had “received a credible report” she had “yelled at a practitioner on the other side” and “used the profanity ‘c--t’”, which was “overheard by three practitioners in both offices”.

Mr Stokes had also earlier raised a number of other allegations of misconduct against Ms Brackenreg, including that she had “given your time” to junior lawyer Mark Clare “in an effort to make his billings ‘look better, so he would receive a pay rise’”.

Mr Clare is not accused of any wrongdoing.

In response, Ms Brackenreg said she did not bill for her time “when I was training Mark” because she did not think it was appropriate as her “involvement was simply for the purpose of training” but she denied “padding or gaming” time sheets.

“I did ‘give my time’ to Mark Clare on numerous occasions but I deny that I informed you that it was for the purpose of making him look better so he would receive a pay rise – as it was not,” she wrote.

“Mark’s employment at Men’s Legal Service was Mark’s first job after he finished his law degree.

“He had never worked at a law firm previously and had no experience in working at a law firm.

“As Mark had no prior experience in working in a law firm, I spent a considerable amount of my time training him.”

Ms Brackenreg also denied yelling and swearing at the other lawyer, Brian McGowran, “as it is not true”.

Fair Work Commissioner Bernie Riordan found Ms Brackenreg ‘was in fact ‘gaming’ the timekeeping system’.

“Under no circumstance would I ever use that profanity when speaking to a practitioner or any other person,” she wrote.

“It is not in my nature to act in that way and I certainly would never say that word.”

But commissioner Bernie Riordan accepted Mr McGowran’s evidence Ms Brackenreg described his client as a “c--t” and noted while he was not offended by it, he did take offence to an accusation “that he was ‘gouging’ his client in relation to the fees that he was charging for his services”.

“It is highly inappropriate for a solicitor to use such a derogatory and demeaning term to describe the opposing solicitor’s client or accuse that solicitor of fee gouging his client,” he said.

But in dismissing the application, Mr Riordan said “the most serious accusation” related to Ms Brackenreg “giving her time” to Mr Clare.

“The supervision of a new and inexperienced lawyer is not a hand-holding exercise,” he said.

“If a senior lawyer is required to directly supervise then clearly someone has to pay for the senior lawyer’s time, such an outcome is common sense.

“In this case, I am satisfied and find that the applicant was in fact ‘gaming’ the timekeeping system to boost Mr Clare’s billable hours.”