LAW firm Slater & Gordon was within its rights to pay a senior partner $1 million from the profits of a breast implant class action without informing clients, according to the Law Institute of Victoria.
The bonus, which came to light this week, means senior partner Peter Gordon received at least eight times more from the class action than any one of the firm's 3100 clients. Their payouts ranged from a few hundred dollars up to $120,000.
However, law institute head Michael Brett Young said yesterday there had been no need to inform the women about the payment to Mr Gordon because the settlement in the action had been authorised by a judge.
"The client has had a really good process. A judge has looked at the costs being charged and decided these are fair and reasonable," Mr Brett Young said.
However, breast implant victim Janet Baxter, 76, was "appalled" when she learned this week that Mr Gordon received 50 times what she received from the Dow Corning settlement.
Ms Baxter had a mastectomy in 1984 and underwent a breast reconstruction the next year.
She received between $18,000 and $20,000 when Slater & Gordon settled the class action in September 2002. "It was supposed to be a lot more, of course," she said.
Ms Baxter underwent two operations to fix the ruptured implant in 1993 "because they couldn't get it out in one go".
Brett Young, a former managing partner of class action firm Maurice Blackburn Cashman, said the women had suffered major trauma and tragedy but without the efforts of Slater & Gordon, they might have received nothing.
* A page 1 article published yesterday, "Law firm's brawl over $1m bonus", contained comment from Michelle Balaam regarding compensation she received in breast implant litigation against Dow Corning.
The article stated she was one of the claimants in an action led by Slater & Gordon. In fact, Ms Balaam was part of a class action against Dow Corning led by Maurice Blackburn Cashman.
