The second extract from Michael Gawenda’s biography of senior partner Mark Leibler, published in today’s AFR, focuses on the impact on Arnold Bloch Leibler of high profile partner Leon Zwier.
“Recruited to the firm by former senior partner Joe Gersh in 1991, when he was 34, Zwier was Bill Shorten’s legal adviser during the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption in 2014–15 and Tony Abbott’s lawyer when he was sued for libel,” writes Gawenda.
“He is a friend of Shorten and of former federal Labor minister and Australian Council of Trade Unions Secretary Greg Combet, but he has also acted for a number of politicians in the Coalition government when questions were raised in 2017–18 about their eligibility for election to parliament, because of dual citizenship issues. He has acted both for trade unions and for businesses in disputes with unions.”
The extract, headed “The man who fought to clear Richard Pratt”, highlights Leon’s passionate fight to clear the late Richard Pratt of criminal charges brought on the recommendation of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
Click here to read the PDF version of the extract and here to read it online.
