The inside goings-on from the long-running disciplinary hearing on the former Factory Partner
Sasha Borissenko NZ Herald column looked at what the five complainants in the Russell McVeagh hearing had to say, with references to sexual innuendo, alcohol issues and ‘drinking Tiger’s blood’ as signs of a workplace culture that created confronting issues. She noted that the former partner who did not plead guilty, but acknowledged that he had no intention of “creeping on them” (the complainants).
The 5 day hearing could, she said, be described as five womens’ accounts of alleged sexual assault, “another man’s form of exhuberant dancing.” The key question is whether it can happen again.
The column noted the evidence relating to the lack of sensory feeling in his hand, as a result of an injury but “derived no pleasure from”. The quotations derived from her own experience reporting on the Russell McVeagh goings-on during 2018.
Quoting from the complainants, the office had a list of characters in a piratical sense.
Quoting the former partner, she reported – “We had a lot of nicknames for people . . There was a Fijian guy who had a beard and had long hair and he looked like Jesus except black, we called him ‘Black Jesus’.
“He called himself Black Jesus.
“We had an Asian gentleman who was part of our group, we called him ‘Bad China’. He called himself ‘Bad China’, the man said.
“There was possibly a time Charlie Sheen was in the media a lot and there was some quote he had about drinking tiger’s blood and it helped with his libido, and so sometimes we’d say ‘oh, you know have you been drinking the tiger’s blood?’ if someone was getting excited about something – not suggesting they were getting sexually excited, but as our equivalent for ‘are you drinking the Kool-Aid?” he said.
“When I tell people I summer clerked at Russell McVeagh Wellington they [do the maths] and go quiet . . I have lost an entire network of people who canno separate what happened from the work I tried to do well at.”
The decision his awaited.
==> Looking for a new law job – Try the best law jobs site in town
Crown Jewel or Holding Pattern? The Meredith Connell Question Won’t Go Away
Three more senior litigators have walked from MC to Richmond Chambers. The pattern is now…
NZ’s Legal Market Recovery Has Started But Don’t Expect Champagne In The Boardroom Yet
New Zealand’s legal hiring market is finally recovering, but it is a selective, skills‑driven rebound…
Silks, Supremacy, and Sleepless Nights – Inside Chris Bishop’s Playbook as Attorney-General
If you want to understand the constitutional worldview of New Zealand’s brand new Attorney-General, look…
FNZ’s US$4.6b Class Action – Inside the Employee Shareholder Revolt
A colossal US$4.6 billion (about NZ$7.7 billion) class action against global wealth‑tech group FNZ has…
MinterEllison Slashing Graduate Jobs: Is AI Replacing Junior Lawyers?
AI is Eating the Entry-level Lunch For years, partners have whispered about how many juniors…
NZ Lawyer News – Cavell Leitch Recruits former Minters Partner to Launch Wellington Office
Christchurch-based Cavell Leitch is opening its Wellington office, recruiting Rodney Craig, formerly with MinterEllisonRuddWatts is…
Doing the Mahi on Maiki: How TVNZ Tried to Bury Its Own Scandal
John Bowie, LawFuel publisher It takes a certain perverted genius for the state broadcaster to…