Slater & Gordon
Slater & Gordon Lawyers is an Australian consumer law firm founded in March 1935 in Melbourne by William Slater, a former Labor Party Attorney-General, and Hugh Gordon, a solicitor, to provide legal services to trade unions and working people.[1]
The firm expanded nationally, introducing Australia's first "no win, no fee" arrangements in 1986, and achieved milestones such as securing landmark compensation in the 1964 HMAS Voyager collision case.[1] In 2007, it became the world's first publicly listed law practice on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), enabling acquisitions including UK firm Russell Jones & Walker in 2012, but aggressive growth and overvaluation of work-in-progress led to a sharp share price decline from around $8 in 2015 to mere cents by 2017, prompting a writedown of hundreds of millions and the separation of its UK operations.[1][2][3] Delisted from the ASX in 2023 following a private equity takeover by Allegro Funds, the firm continues to handle personal injury, class actions—like the $70 million Manus Island detention settlement in 2016 and $49.7 million Bellamy's Organic investor claim in 2019—and compensation cases across Australia.[1][4][5]