It’s not every day that a judge is asked to make it snappy when delivering oral reasons by a lawyer connecting to the court remotely but as it turned out yesterday, Leon Zwier had an unimpeachable excuse.
The Arnold Bloch Leibler (ABL) partner was appearing on behalf of the administrators of the Healthscope Group, who were seeking an order extending the deadline for convening the second meeting of creditors to July 1, 2026.
“It’s fortunate that we’ve been quick as I’ve just had an alert that I have to get in a bunker in the next 10 minutes.” Leon Zwier, ABL.
Zwier told Federal Court judge Ian Jackman that Healthscope’s receivers are conducting a sale process which, due to the group’s size and complexity, will take up to 12 months to complete.
He’d provided written submissions and assured the judge that the application contained no controversy.
Within minutes the judge indicated he was happy to make the orders effectively in the form proposed by the administrators.
“It’s fortunate that we’ve been quick as I’ve just had an alert that I have to get in a bunker in the next 10 minutes,” Zwier told the judge after glancing at his mobile phone.
Acknowledging he had been made aware Zwier was attending remotely but hadn’t appreciated the location Justice Jackman assured Zwier he would, given the public interest in the matter and Zwier’s risk-laden personal circumstances, provide short oral reasons, which he immediately proceeded to do.
On concluding Zwier looked at his phone again thanked the judge for his brevity.
“I have one and a half minutes to go, thank you your honour”.
This story is published for the benefit of iNO Priority holders and must not be shared, copied, reproduced or otherwise distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
a very good Judge and a very good Lawyer. It goes to show the very real value of experience and ability to use technology. Fortunately, there is now a ceasefire at least in Israel/Iran