This was looked into by the Kaye Report on the Sodonchroff inquiry:
“What Mr Drumgold alleges is that Mr Sofronoff’s association with Ms Albrechtsen in particular might be thought by the fair-minded observer to have possibly diverted Mr Sofronoff from deciding the issues in his terms of reference on their merit,” O’Gorman said.
Kate Eastman, a lawyer representing the ACT government, a party to the proceedings, said it was not clear the pair’s extensive communications had any effect on Sofronoff’s conduct.
Worth noting that Reynolds won a $90k settlement for defamation from the ACT government. And granted, the relationship between Sodonchroff and Albrechsten always looked iffy but it appears to have survived close legal scrutiny.
