Sladen Legal - Docklands, Victoria

Robert C.

I recently used Sladen Legal to establish a discretionary trust, and the experience was outstanding from start to finish. I had a long list of questions—everything from trustee/appointor setup to tax implications with cryptocurrency—and they handled all my queries promptly and clearly. Their team was both friendly and highly knowledgeable, steering me away from common pitfalls and helping me understand each step. Costs were transparent, and the entire process felt efficient and well-organized. I highly recommend Sladen Legal for anyone needing top-notch trust or business law expertise!

Tom G.

Extremely unethical and greedy firm who left signing a settlement to the last half an hour of the day. Everyone else was ready the morning of, and several attempts were made by our lawyer to contact them throughout the day. Their lateness in signing did not give enough time for our lawyer and bank to review and re-sign the documents, resulting in a delayed settlement. Sladen then proceeded to charge us penalty fees and a late settlement fee. They have been contacted on this issue, and refuse to acknowledge any mistake on their part or refund us the portion of the fee that went into their own pocket ($550). They continue to ignore the question as to why they left it so late in the day, which any other lawyer would know is not something you are supposed to do.

Sladen are now trying to claim that our account of events are 'factually incorrect'. We have been in constant contact with our lawyer, and are simply stating that they signed off incredibly late in the day which the PEXA log shows (with multiple attempts to contact them via email and phone from 9:37AM that morning, asking them to sign off). They continue to make excuses and refuse to answer for why no contact had been made the entire day, and why it was left so late.

Viv D.

Sladen Legal were the firm appointed by the developer we purchased land from. The bank, broker and solicitor were all ready to go from 9:37am on settlement day. All parties had signed off except for Sladen. Several attempts were made to contact Sladen (via phone and email) by the solicitor the entire day.

Sladen did not get back to them until around 4:30pm, to say that the principal lawyer was in a meeting and that they were waiting for them to finish in order to sign off. They then signed off only 30 mins before the cut off time, leaving the remaining parties little time to review and re-sign, and which resulted in the settlement being delayed. There was absolutely no negligence from the bank, broker or solicitor to fail settlement.

Sladen then proceeded to charge us, as the customer, penalty fees and a late settlement fee of $840 the following day ($550 of this went into their own pocket as seen in the statement of adjustments provided by them). My solicitor politely asked Sladen to waiver this, as the settlement was only delayed due to their delay in signing off, leaving an extremely small time frame for the other parties. Sladen refused.

After speaking to the lead conveyancer (Kathy) at Sladen who was in charge of this matter, I was simply told that she was in several meetings and calls that day and ‘got to it when she got to it’. The lack of communication and accountability for their lateness in signing, and then proceeding to charge penalty fees and a late settlement fee seems extremely unethical and greedy. They had the entire day to sign off with all other parties being ready, yet left it to the end of the day. The lead conveyancer then proceeded to try and justify it by saying that late settlements happen all the time due to funds not being ready, which I informed her was not the case here. The funds were ready and all other parties were ready. I also politely mentioned to her several times that she could learn to be more kind and empathetic, to which she replied "what difference would this make?".

Several calls and voice messages have now been left by the broker, and Sladen have ignored these calls and refuse to answer for how this matter has been handled by the lead conveyancer and the team. I am extremely disappointed and upset by this. Everything was done to ensure that this settlement would occur on time, but Sladen’s mistake was out of our control and we have been unfairly penalised as a result. There is no excuse as to why they didn't communicate, respond or sign off earlier when requested to from 9:37am that morning. It is extremely unprofessional, and I'm sure we are not the only ones who have had to deal with this.

Update: The CEO requested me to remove my review “until this is resolved”, but gave no response on why his team left it so late in the day. He refuses to address why the team made no contact or effort to sign off from 9:37AM that morning, when all other parties were waiting. I assume the team are well aware that leaving it so late in the day is far from standard practice, as it provides little buffer time for other parties to review and re-sign on time. At the very least, Sladen could take some accountable for this mistake, knowing full well that they should not be signing off so late in the day when all other parties were ready that morning. Instead, I've been met with the following: "We are unable to provide anything further, including the response you are seeking with respect to any internal conversations at Sladen Legal." Very disappointing.

Sladen have now responded to this review claiming that the events are 'factually incorrect'. However, the log proves that Sladen did not sign off until around 4:30PM, and had failed to communicate with our lawyers the entire day. Other parties need time to review and re-sign, which they were not provided enough time to do. They're again refusing to answer why it took them this long to sign off. This comes down to how unethical this law firm are being in charging fees that they have now primarily pocketed.

Rachael C.

Sladen Legal have been professional, responsive and informative. I highly recommend this Firm.

Lasitha R.

Very happy with the result. Helped sort out a serious issue I had with the ATO.

JD S. K.