Slater and Gordon’s ‘malicious email’ could’ve been sent by former employee, investigation finds

The law firm say they've referred the outcomes of a forensic investigation to Victoria Police

BY Ben Cartwright 25 Mar 2025

Slater and Gordon says a malicious email containing information about staff salaries may have been sent by a former employee, according to outcomes from a forensic investigation.

The email – sent to over 900 people on 21 February - contained the remuneration of its entire workforce, including details of bonuses and the performance ranking of all staff, The Australian Financial Review reported.

The law firm also say that the email was a premeditated and carefully planned attack – but no client information was compromised in any way.

The outcome of the investigation has been referred to Victoria Police, who are continuing to investigate what happened.

As reported by Australian Financial Review, the firm say the investigation had shown at least 10 identical emails were sent in a 16-minute period before 10am.

In a statement, Slater and Gordon also believe that “there is no evidence to suggest that any current employee, contractor, or external threat actor was involved.” – and that former Chief People Officer, Mari Ruiz-Matthyson was not responsible.

In the aftermath of the incident – described previously as highly inappropriate – Slater and Gordon say they have acted swiftly to contain and mitigate the impact of those affected.

Their actions taken include:

Removing the email from all inboxes within 90 minutes and locking down the staff email archive system to prevent further dissemination of the email.
Providing a confidential contact number for staff to confirm whether they were included in the email and, if so, what information was disclosed.
Proactively contacting impacted former staff members.
Offering the firm’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to all staff.
Continued communication to keep staff informed and to outline the support available.
Notification to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

Slater and Gordon CEO, Dina Tutungi, said, “This matter continues to be taken extremely seriously by Slater and Gordon, and we have referred the outcomes of the forensic investigation to Victoria Police. We will continue to assist the police with their work.”

“While this malicious incident was unwelcome, our priority remains our people and the critical work we do every day to provide access to justice for our clients.”