By LIAM DURKIN
STEVE Plunkett is seeing 2025 from an unfamiliar position.
This will be the first time in more than four decades the Morwell lawyer won’t need to put a jacket and tie on for work.
Mr Plunkett announced his retirement last year, bringing to end a career that saw him fight an estimated 500 cases.
As senior lawyer at Slater and Gordon’s Morwell branch, Mr Plunkett was primarily involved in asbestos related cases, often taking on the might of the State Electricity Commission (SEC) whose workers were exposed to the silent killer.
“It’s the best insulator you can use, unfortunately it comes with a pretty grim aftereffect,” Mr Plunkett explained.
“(You) breath the fibres into your lungs, a lot of them can’t get out, then they keep working their way through.”
Upon arriving to Morwell in 1982, he said “everybody worked for the SEC”.
His biggest case was also historic – the first ever lung cancer case in Australia.
Across a gruelling 21-day sitting trial, Mr Plunkett successfully settled more than $175,000 at the time for his Traralgon South-based client.
The lawyer from Morwell beat the Commonwealth in that one.
“It was a very unusual area of the law then,” he reflected.
At Hazelwood Power Station specifically, Mr Plunkett represented more than 1000 employees who had been exposed to asbestos.
Countless Latrobe Valley families have therefore been indebted to his work and service.
Working in law has presented an often strange paradigm for Mr Plunkett, who admitted “some of my best friends are my opponents”.
He said decorum in the courtroom remained vital, even amid the elation of winning a high stakes case.
“You certainly feel fantastic about it, but you never want to gloat about it,” he said.
“No matter how good, even if it (the settlement amount) was double what you thought it was worth, you go to the other side (and say) ‘I’m glad that’s over, pretty fair result I reckon’.
“It’s not about what you want, it’s about what you’re entitled to.”
Mr Plunkett also made public the ‘no win, no fee’ initiative, now common across many law firms.
Part of his lineage will continue into the next generation, with his son James also a practising lawyer.
The senior Plunkett hopes to spend more time with his large family in retirement.
“Take some time out, travel with my wife, we have 13 grandkids between us, seven kids, I want to be a good grandpa, help with baby sitting and what have you,” he said.
Away from his profession, Mr Plunkett has enjoyed retreats into the high country, and the peaceful life living in his hometown of Tyers offers.
He has been heavily involved in the local community, and even helped get the Tyers Kindergarten built.
After moving to Morwell from Moorabbin at age 27, Mr Plunkett, who turns 70 this year, said he couldn’t quite believe he was still here.
“It’s been very good for my career,” he said of the Latrobe Valley.
“Great place to bring up the kids, close to rivers to go fishing, close to the surf, go up the bush camping, all those things, and it’s just on our doorstep.”
