By Kishor Napier-Raman and Stephen Brook
It all started with a cavoodle named Oscar.
Oscar is a very special boy, a celebrity dog worth an estimated $20,000, with his own Instagram account, and an unfortunate knack of kicking off protracted legal disputes involving his paw owners.
In 2021, a custody battle over Oscar between Sydney barrister Gina Edwards and her former friend Mark Gillespie led to a series of stories on Nine’s A Current Affair. Last year, Edwards successfully sued Nine, owner of this masthead, for defamation, with Federal Court judge Michael Wigney ruling that the stories had depicted her as a “dog thief”.
The fur was flying over Instafamous cavoodle Oscar.Credit: Facebook
Nine was ordered to pay Edwards $150,000 in damages, plus her legal costs, around $1.2 million all up. But the costs issue has become the source of a spectacular falling-out between Edwards and her lawyers Giles George, run by top defamation solicitor Rebekah Giles.
A Federal Court hearing on Thursday, which should’ve been an administrative post-mortem to resolve costs issues arising from Edwards’ case against Nine, became the scene of a whole new legal dogfight, as the plaintiff, representing herself, took on her former lawyers.
Edwards has complained to the Law Society of NSW, alleging that Giles George didn’t follow legal professional rules in relation to their costs agreement. An additional complaint to the Office of the NSW Legal Services Commissioner about Giles George was closed on receipt. Meanwhile, Edwards told the court on Thursday that the firm, known for its PR-forward approach to client representation, had billed her for briefing journalists about the case.
Giles George, meanwhile, is seeking to intervene in the all-but concluded defamation case, arguing that Edwards’ costs should be paid by Nine to the court directly, rather than their former client. Giles declined to comment, although it’s understood she denies Edwards’ allegations.
The costs spat between Giles George and Edwards is set to continue in March.
Spare a thought for poor Oscar, who probably has no idea the amount of drama he’s caused.
Some personal news
One of the joys of this column is playing “where are they now?” with fallen political figures of yesteryear.
Today, we turn our attention to former NSW Labor general secretary Jamie Clements, who quit the top job in 2016 following sexual harassment allegations, although a parliamentary inquiry found insufficient evidence to substantiate the claims.
Clements would later make headlines in an Independent Commission Against Corruption probe, which heard that he accepted a $100,000 donation in an Aldi shopping bag from billionaire Chinese property developer Huang Xiangmo.
While no adverse findings were made against Clements, his relationship with Huang, who’s currently barred from entering Australia on national security grounds, was deemed “inappropriate” by the corruption watchdog.
That’s all ancient history now for Clements, who goes by James professionally these days, and has found a second act as a criminal defence solicitor, a career we reckon his head-kicking days on Sussex Street prepared him for rather well.
More recently, Clements has landed a big promotion, becoming a partner at Jackson John Defence Lawyers. It’s one of several firms run by Ramy Qutami, whose colourful list of past clients includes jailed fraudster Salim Mehajer and footballers Jarred Hayne and Israel Folau.
Which sounds like a fitting coda to the career of a Labor right apparatchik who flew close to the sun.
Byron baes
Having well and truly shed its “alternative” vibe, Byron Bay has emerged as a bit of a magnet for normie Hollywood types. Chris and Liam Hemsworth have mansions there. After spending much of the pandemic in Byron, High School Musical heart-throb Zac Efron is planning a mega sustainable ranch around the nearby Queensland border.
The latest A-lister drawn to that corner of northern NSW is New York City’s very own Chloe Sevigny, once described as “the It girl to end all It girls” with a chic cachet those Marvel men could only dream of.
Sevigny spent a week at uber-exclusive Wategos Beach in January, staying at the home of Steve Nasteski, a Sydney fine art dealer, specialising in moving Brett Whiteleys.
We hear they’re connected through Sevigny’s husband, Croatian art gallery owner Sinisa Mackovic.
Dudes in DC
US President Donald Trump’s inauguration in Washington DC last week was like a honeypot for billionaires anxious to kiss the ring – or in Gina Rinehart’s case, continue the celebrations.
Meanwhile, ambassador Kevin Rudd and Foreign Minister Penny Wong weren’t the only Labor figures in town. Former defence minister Joel Fitzgibbon was in DC during the Trump jamboree, as part of his role co-chairing the AUKUS Forum with ex-Liberal senator and ambassador to the US Arthur Sinodinos.
This week, there are more True Believers in DC, with NSW Treasurer Dan Mookhey stopping in as part of an overseas jaunt. That included an event at BHP, where he posed for pics with erstwhile political frenemy and ex-premier Dom Perrottet, who now leads the Big Australian’s external and corporate affairs team in the American capital.
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