Gina Rinehart court battle: Not everyone invited to this lawyers’ picnic
Dozens of lawyers were jammed in across five benches of Western Australia’s biggest courtroom, although some notable firms were nowhere to be seen.
The one certainty from the latest courtroom battle between Gina Rinehart, her children and the offspring of her father’s former business partner is a big payday for a large cross-section of the Australian legal fraternity.
No fewer than 30 lawyers, six SCs and 1 KC were jammed in across five benches in court 42 of Western Australia’s David Malcolm Justice Centre.
The court is the biggest at the disposal of WA’s justice system, but even it couldn’t fit all lawyers assembled for the case: two barristers helpfully opted to dial in to proceedings over video link instead.
The enormous legal teams assembled for the case show both the size of the prize – the royalties and assets being fought over are together worth the best part of $2bn – but also the all but limitless pockets of the protagonists.
The total cost of the legal battle will undoubtedly run into the tens of millions, given the case is expected to continue for months. The respective openings of Wright and Hancock are forecast to take at least a week apiece.
Just getting the matter to trial has been costly in terms of money and time. It’s a decade since Wright first brought the matter and the proceedings have outlasted the original judge, Rene Le Miere, who reached the compulsory retirement age before it could make it to trial.
While court 42 looks like the textbook definition of a lawyers’ picnic, some of the nation’s biggest law firms are conspicuous in their absence. Hancock, Wright and Rio Tinto have retained big-ticket firms Corrs, Clayton Utz and Allens respectively; the other parties in the case – namely Mrs Rinehart’s children John Hancock, Bianca, Ginia and Hope, and family office DFD Rhodes – have opted to retain comparatively smaller firms.