Scyne settles with former partner who joined Downer

Scyne has settled with former partner Connie Heaney, who has agreed to take a different role at her new firm Downer EDI.

Scyne Advisory and former partner Connie Heaney have settled their court case. Picture: John Feder

Scyne Advisory has settled a case with former partner Connie Heaney, after dragging the career consultant to court in a bid to enforce non-compete deeds.

The firm confirmed it had reached a resolution with Ms Heaney, ahead of a scheduled court hearing in June, with the former partner at the government consulting firm accepting a deal that will see her walk away from her role at Downer EDI.

Instead Ms Heaney will move into a different role at the ASX-listed engineering and consulting firm in a move understood to have been agreed in mediation with Scyne.

The move avoids the need to fight it out in court between the two, after an earlier court battle in March saw Scyne slapped down over its delays in taking action against the former partner.

A Scyne spokesman said the firm had concluded its fight with Ms Heaney.

“The court proceedings by Scyne Advisory against Connie Heaney have reached a satisfactory resolution without the need to go to a final hearing before the Supreme Court,” he said.

“The resolution was agreed jointly between Scyne Advisory, Ms Heaney and Downer Professional Services in the basis of a recognition of the need to uphold post-contractual restraints and to protect confidential information within the professional services market.”

Scyne had sought to block Ms Heaney from joining Downer Group, dragging the consultant to the NSW Supreme Court, arguing she had breached a 12-month non-compete clause after signing a contract with the rival engineering and consulting firm.

The matter was set to appear before Justice Kelly Rees on June 17, after Scyne flagged intentions to continue its legal tussle with Ms Heaney after its earlier defeat in March.

The firm had attempted to lodge an urgent injunction against Ms Heaney, stopping her from starting at Downer after wrapping up her time at Scyne.

But Ms Heaney had knocked over Scyne’s case, with the court finding the firm’s delays in taking action were detrimental to its case.

The court also heard arguments that Scyne’s heavy non-compete clauses created a financial risk for Ms Heaney.

Ms Heaney moved to join Downer as the listed firm sought to grow its defence consulting arm, after years consulting in the space.

Ms Heaney had been a junior partner at PwC Australia’s government consulting business, before the sale of the operation to private equity players Allegro Funds in a $1 deal last year.

This came after PwC was engulfed in scandal after the firm was revealed to have misused confidential government tax briefings to grow its business with major American tech clients.