ABC’s legal department criticised for size, amid concerns over broadcaster’s mounting legal bills

The ABC’s in-house legal team is set to expand even more as the legal bills mount, prompting alarm within legal and media circles at its size.

ABC General Counsel Connie Carnabuci (left) and ABC Managing Director David Anderson in 2019.

The ABC is looking to expand its already “bloated” in-house legal department, amid wider concerns about the looming cost of the national broadcaster’s defamation fight with former Attorney-General Christian Porter.

A job ad posted online by the ABC earlier this month read: “This is an exciting opportunity to join the ABC’s highly regarded in-house legal team consisting of 28 talented lawyers based at (Sydney headquarters) Ultimo.”

But the size of the national broadcaster’s legal department has raised eyebrows in both the legal and media fraternities, with many observing that it is considerably oversized when compared with those of the commercial media companies in Australia.

The Australian asked four other major news organisations about the size of their respective legal teams, and each said they employ fewer than a dozen in-house lawyers, but use external legal firms as required. One respected media lawyer, who asked not to be named, described the ABC’s 28-strong legal department as “woefully bloated”.

“As someone who has worked in media law for a long time, I can tell you that for an Australian media organisation to have that many in-house lawyers on its books is extraordinary,” the lawyer said.

“Clearly, there is way too much fat in the ABC’s legal department. It can’t possibly be running efficiently if they have 28 lawyers working in-house … and that’s not even taking into account the budget they obviously have for external legal counsel.

“With proper management, a more outsourced model with far fewer lawyers — say, about five to 10 — would mean better service and quality, and could also cut the ABC’s legal spend by between 50-75 per cent.”

The size of the ABC’s in-house legal team has more than doubled in the past decade, The Australian has been told.

But an ABC spokesman defended the size of the national broadcaster’s legal team, and declined to reveal how the numbers in the legal unit had changed over the past decade.

“The ABC employs an appropriate level of in-house legal staff given the range of activities we are responsible for as the national public broadcaster,” he said.

The recent advertised role for a “senior lawyer”, with a salary of $121,391, states that the job requires the successful applicant to be “responsible for providing legal advice on media law issues including defamation, suppression and non-publication orders, contempt of court and intellectual property”.

New industry minister Christian Porter. Picture: Sharon Smith

Maurice Newman who was chairman of the ABC from 2000 to 2004, said: “Why is it necessary to have 28 people in the legal team? It would suggest they must have a lot of actions pending or are having to defend themselves in various ways and the legal team has to grow.”

There is also serious angst — both within the ABC’s walls and beyond — about the cost of the legal battle to defend the defamation claim brought by Mr Porter, with speculation the national broadcaster could be left with a seven-figure legal bill. 

A former ABC executive predicted legal costs to defend the case would be “more than $500,000, but could easily run over $1m”.

“Like all corporations there’s a budget, but there’s not an unlimited bucket of money that the group has to litigate with,” the one-time top-tier ABC staffer said.

Porter has accused the ABC and reporter Louise Milligan of publishing “false allegations against him” via an online story that revealed an unnamed senior cabinet minister was facing an historical rape allegation.

The ABC has engaged two external senior counsel — former commonwealth solicitor-general Justin Gleeson, and Victorian defamation barrister Renee Enbom — as well as Sydney barrister Clarissa Amato.

The lawyers acting for Porter also include two senior counsel in barristers Bret Walker and Sue Chrysanthou and defamation solicitor Rebekah Giles.