Police close investigation into ‘premeditated’ attack at law firm

Police have closed their investigation into who was behind the scandalous email leak at national law firm Slater & Gordon, which exposed the salaries and performance ratings of hundreds of staff.

The investigation into who was responsible for a firm-wide email sent to all Slater & Gordon staff in February has been closed by Victoria Police after it concluded that “no criminal offences have been detected”.

“Any further information supplied to police in the future would be thoroughly assessed; however, at this time, the matter is considered closed,” a spokesperson with Victoria Police said.

Slater & Gordon said it respected the role of police but hoped the matter would have resulted in accountability “for what we continue to regard as a premeditated and carefully planned attack on the firm”.

“The wellbeing of our people remains our priority. We took this incident extremely seriously and acted swiftly to support our staff,” it said.

The email, which was sent to 900 recipients on 21 February, contained a spreadsheet with salaries and performance information.

It was purportedly sent by the chief’s interim chief people officer, Mari Ruiz-Matthyssen, but the firm has insisted she was not the sender.

In its recent media statement, Slater & Gordon said that position remains “unchanged”. The firm added it would not comment further on the identity of any other former employee.

Ruiz-Matthyssen has commenced legal proceedings in the Victorian Supreme Court, alleging the firm’s “woeful management” of the email leak has “gravely and unjustly damaged” her career and reputation.

Monica Allen, Ruiz-Matthyssen’s special counsel, said the firm had clear information that showed she was not responsible, but it still allegedly allowed her to become the “public face” of the scandal.

“The firm instructed staff not to contact her, to exclude her from the all-staff meeting and failed to take appropriate steps to correct the record, allowing Ruiz-Matthyssen to be wrongly implicated and portrayed as the public face of the incident,” Allen said.