Mr TONY STEWART (Bankstown—Parliamentary Secretary) [7.08 p.m.]: I have received advice recently from Bankstown constituents and others that has raised very significant concerns about the conduct of a well-known Sydney-based law firm, Keddies Lawyers. The concerns I have received relate to allegations about the gross overcharging of a significant number of vulnerable clients who have used Keddies legal services to pursue compensation and associated entitlements. I am advised that Keddies is one of the largest law firms in New South Wales specialising in personal injury cases. I note that, according to media reports yesterday, Keddies now faces a possible takeover from another large legal firm, Slater and Gordon.

But none of this effects the concerns I raise today, which relate to the conduct of Keddies Lawyers under the management of senior partner and founder of Keddies, Mr Russell Keddie, along with his partners, Mr Tony Barakat and Mr Scott Roulstone. I understand that currently more than 70 legal actions are on foot against the three partners of Keddies Lawyers, all aimed at getting a fair and reasonable remedy for the numerous clients that Keddies appears to have blatantly ripped off through gross and excessive overcharging over a number of years. A number of those people are here today in the public gallery and I thank them for being here.

Mr Mahmoud Zoufikar from Greenacre in my electorate of Bankstown was a client of Keddies. He was awarded a settlement of $925,000 in August 2004, but Keddies' legal fees and disbursements left Mahmoud with less than half of that amount. Keddies took a whopping $458,205 from this man. And his case did not even go to a hearing. Mr Mohamed Tariq was amazingly charged $49 by Keddies simply to read his "thank you" email to them. Mr Ke Ping Zhou received a settlement of $800,000, but after legal costs were imposed by Keddies he received only $435,000. I am advised that his legal costs should not have been no more than $70,000 in total.

Yesterday I spoke to another victim of Keddies Lawyers, Mr Mitchell Smith of Riverwood. Mitchell, who is only 32 years old, is an amputee and is permanently disabled after a terrible motor cycle accident that was not his fault. Mitchell engaged Keddies and finally received a settlement of $1.5 million. Keddies deducted $322,230 and after other costs were imposed Mr Smith ended up with a final payment of $1 million. He lost a whopping total of $500,000 as a result of dealing with Keddies Lawyers. I am advised that the maximum costs that Keddies should have charged for Mitchell Smith's legal case were about $50,000 for less than one year's legal representation that resulted in an out-of-court settlement, without even going to hearing.

Keddies' systematic overcharging involves taking advantage of people who because of their background and inexperience placed their trust in the firm to protect them. Instead, Keddies charged grossly excessive fees, often, I am advised, without even rendering a bill. Victims have informed me that to conceal their overcharging Keddies would sometimes not even tell the client the final settlement amount. All the client would receive was a cheque in the mail with no report, no account, no explanation—no nothing. As a consequence, it often was not until much later when clients complained that that they found out how much their case had settled for and how much they had been charged.

In almost all cases that I am aware of there is a similar pattern of Keddies preying on some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged people in our community. Despite this, Keddies took advantage of them by running up huge bills without, in my opinion, any regard for the needs of the victims for compensation in the future. I, along with numerous victims of Keddies Lawyers, am very disappointed in the toothless tiger role that the Legal Services Commissioner has played with regard to the Keddies matter. I know that many complaints have been lodged with the Legal Services Commissioner alleging gross professional misconduct by Keddies Lawyers. However, strangely, despite the continued human tragedy of this issue, only one complaint out of dozens has been upheld.

The Legal Services Commissioner has the power to deal with the issues I have raised. For the sake of the people of New South Wales and the integrity of the legal profession Russell Keddie and his partners Scott Roulestone and Tony Barakat must be brought to proper account for what they have done to many disadvantaged people in our community. I will now be forwarding my concerns about Keddies Lawyers to the New South Wales Attorney General, the Hon. John Hatzistergos, in the hope that if the Legal Services Commissioner apparently cannot do anything about this issue the New South Wales Attorney General can.