Slater & Gordon general counsel Moana Weir has resigned with immediate effect after spending less than two months at the firm.
Weir joined the Australian-listed firm in January after its previous legal chief, Kirsten Morrison, was moved to the UK to support UK and Europe managing director Ken Fowlie. Previously, Weir was general counsel for Australian recruitment agency Seek where she had worked since 1998.
Slater & Gordon group chief financial officer will replace Weir as the firm’s company secretary. According to a statement on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) the firm will fill the role of general counsel with an “external advisor while re-assessing its business needs”.
Last month the firm announced it had made a loss of A$958.3m (£493m) at the half year. The loss was largely attributed to Slater & Gordon’s £700m acquisition of insurance outsourcer Quindell’s professional services arm.
Following the results Slater & Gordon’s lenders have threatened to call in the firm’s borrowing early if it cannot present a suitable restructuring proposal to the syndicate, led by National Bank of Australia and Westpac.
Slater & Gordon has until the end of the week to come up with a suitable proposal. If an agreement is not reached the firm will have to repay its loans by March 2017. According to the firm’s last full year accounts its borrowings stand at A$789.3m but its facilities can extend to A$850.3m.
The firm’s share price now stands at A$0.25 after falling from A$6.988 in March 2015. Following the continued drop of Slater & Gordon’s share price the firm has been removed from the ASX 200 Index and the All Australian 200 Index.