Defector sues firm founders over equity forgone

After Richard Lawrence defected to Mackay Goodwin from Hall Chadwick he understandably wanted to secure his entitlements as they applied to the passage of his equity back to the firm’s founding partners Richard Albarran and Drew Townsend, in accordance with the terms of the Hall Chadwick Partnership Deed.

While that transfer appears to been smooth, the return of Lawrence’s money has been anything but, prompting the defector to commence proceedings against his one time mentors in the NSW Supreme Court.

According to a Further Amended Statement of Claim (FASOC) affirmed by Lawrence on December 19, 2024 Hall Chadwick’s partnership deed provides for repayment in monthly instalments of a departing equity holder’s investment with their relinquished equity becoming available for purchase by the founding parters, or anyone approved by them if they don’t want it.

The FASOC also reveals that Lawrence stumped up $550,000 for one per cent of the Hall Chadwick partnership equity back in June 2022, meaning Albarran and Townsend value their national enterprise at in excess of $50 million.

Mystifyingly, after finding the cash and entering the senior-ranking realm of non-founding equity partner Lawrence tended his resignation less than 12 months later.

By November 2023 he was ensconced as a director at Mackay Goodwin, the firm founded in 2014 by Dominic Calabretta after 12 years at – you guessed it – Hall Chadwick.

Lawrence’s FASOC alleges that the flow of his entitlements has been delayed, mismanaged and remains incomplete.

He says following his departure from the firm the first instalment as per the deed’s “Proportionate Valuation Amount” of $22,916.67 was due and payable to him on or about 7 December 2023.

The money didn’t materialise and in a letter from Albarran and Townsend’s solicitors they disputed Lawrence’s claim on the basis of what the FASOC describes “as ‘unresolved concerns’ and ‘issues’ between the Founding Partners and Lawrence”.

iNO asked Albarran and his lawyer, Dentons’ Ruth Nocka to clarify what those unresolved concerns and issues were but received no response by our publication deadline.

In his FASOC Lawrence says Albarran and Townsend asserted that “there was no current obligation for Lawrence to be paid any consideration for the transfer of his equity to the Founding Partners”.

That he claims means Albarran and Townsend repudiated the partnership deed and his lawyers confirmed that in writing to the founding partners’ solicitors in a letter dated January 18, 2024. Then something odd happened.

Lawrence received a payment of $22,912.00 on January 29. Three days later he received another payment for the same amount and over the course of the next 10 months Albarran and Townsend paid Lawrence a total of $275,302.36 cents.

Lawrence says that’s approximately half of what he’s owed and he’s naturally hoping to extract interest and costs on top of the remainder.

In their defence filed with the court Albarran and Townsend have denied Lawrence is entitled to the relief sought. The matter has not yet been set down for hearing.