Morrison responds to Michael West, page-38

I agree for the most part. But Justice Lee is not questioning how Shine ran its finances other than in the context of their duty to the court and their clients, which are paramount to that of shareholders.
This is why listed law firms do not work. Shine’s first duty is not to shareholders (and not to pay dividends), and it looks like that might have forgotten that when funding those disbursements in the way that they did.
There will be an adjustment to the interest, and it will be material. So much so that Shine will have to publish an announcement when Lee J delivers his judgment saying they’ll be (contemplating) appealing. The appeal will be hopeless, but they will push this issue off for as long as they can. It won’t impact this years results now, but it has the potential to obliterate next years forecast (for cash at least, which they don’t forecast).