The Snitch readers ask who this lawyer is — and we’ve got the answer
It’s a common question The Snitch is asked most weeks: who’s that lawyer I see on the TV news most nights walking out of court right next to a high-profile client? Well, let us put a name to the face.
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WHO’S THAT MAN?
It’s a common question The Snitch is asked most weeks: who’s that lawyer I see on the TV news most nights walking out of court right next to a high-profile client?
Well, let us put a name to the face. He is Bryan Wrench from Murphy’s Lawyers.
You would have seen him walking out of courts or jammed in the middle of media packs with cameras chasing his clients.
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Among others, the client list has included actor John Jarrett, Anthony Bell, Deb Hutton’s ex Robert Dulhunty, NRL star Sean Kenny Dowall and Sarah Rogers, the girlfriend of former Australian Border Force boss Roman Quaedvlieg.
So is it a case of the cases he’s on or his characteristic broad shouldered build that makes people remember Mr Wrench? He says it’s probably a combination of both.
“Sometimes it’s a question of am I the bodyguard or the lawyer,” Mr Wrench said.
“We have a good reputation, we’re unorthodox, we don’t toe the line and there is a degree of fearlessness to go in and fight so I think people like that,” he said.
He’s also a rare enthusiast of the double breasted suit, to which he said: “Can I keep my right to silence on that one?”
Admitted as a lawyer in 2011, Mr Wrench got his start a few years before that when he took a work experience job as a Sydney Boys High student working as a “coffee gofer” for well known Sydney lawyer Chris Murphy.
Eight years later, he’s running the firm’s cases in court.
TWO COPS WALK INTO A BAR...
Of all the pubs, in all of Sydney, former NSW Police top brass Cath Burn and Nick Kaldas walked into exactly the same one at exactly the same time last Friday.
Giving their fractious past, it could have been a particularly awkward reunion but somehow the pair didn’t bump into each other inside The Imperial Hotel in Paddington.
Ms Burn, an avid Roosters supporter, went to the pub for a drink before heading to the SCG to see her team go down to Souths.
“I saw him in a different section but when I went to leave he had already gone,” Ms Burn said. “I would have said hello.”
It’s not clear if Mr Kaldas shares the same view as he didn’t return The Snitch’s calls.
The animosity between the pair blew up during an Ombudsman investigation into the circumstances of an internal police probe that illegally bugged over 100 police officers, including Mr Kaldas. Ms Burn was a senior member of an internal police investigation.
The affair knocked both of them out of the running for the commissioner position that eventually went to Mick Fuller.
A FISHY DUI
A member of Sydney’s most famous racing family learned a hard lesson this month — sashimi doesn’t line the stomach.
David Waterhouse, the brother of racing identity Robbie Waterhouse, was in his Mercedes convertible going to his Elizabeth Bay mansion on February 16 when he was pulled over for a random breath test.
An officer had spotted his car drift over the double lines on York Road at Queens Park.
According to court documents, when the officer leaned in the driver’s side window, there was a faint scent of alcohol. The ex-bookie told police he’d been at Randwick Racecourse where he enjoyed three glasses of white wine and a plate of sashimi for lunch.
He recorded a blood alcohol reading of 0.064 and was charged with low range drink driving. The 61-year-old was sentenced to a 12-month conditional release order in Waverley Local Court on March 12 but escaped a conviction.
TEACHERS PET PITCH
The Snitch has been told former senior Crown Prosecutor Mark Tedeschi QC recently pitched his defence barrister services to act for accused Teacher’s Pet murderer Chris Dawson in what will be the state’s most-watched case.
The former rugby league player is accused of killing his wife Lyn on Sydney’s Northern Beaches in 1982.
Our sources tell us Mr Tedeschi didn’t get the gig. When asked if he wanted to comment, he simply said “no”.
IN NEED OF A LIFT
Australia’s most famous former spouses, Karl Stefanovic and Cass Thorburn (pictured right), found themselves in the same CBD office block this week and observers were touched by their interaction.
Coincidentallly they were waiting for a lift at the same time and when the bell dinged, Stefanovic stood back and let Thorburn descend alone first, while he waited for the next elevator.
Nice to see civility can reign, even once the love has gone.
Got a snitch? Contact Ava.benny-morrison@news.com.au or Brenden.hills@news.com.au
Originally published as The Snitch readers ask who this lawyer is — and we’ve got the answer
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