Broken Hill City Council has been awarded several million dollars following a successful NSW Supreme Court action against a former lawyer whose billing records claimed up to 36 hours of work in a single day.
The court found that Keith Redenbach, principal of Redenbach Legal, charged the council $10 million to litigate a building dispute over renovations to the Broken Hill Civic Centre, a sum that Justice Elisabeth Peden determined was far beyond what he was entitled to receive.
The underlying matter was eventually settled, with the architects involved agreeing to pay $4.5 million toward the council’s legal costs.
That figure was less than half of what Redenbach ultimately charged.
On at least six days across 2018 and 2019, Redenbach’s billing records showed more than 24 hours of work, including one day on which 31 hours were claimed, another on which 34.5 hours were recorded and a personal high of 36 hours in a single day.
Across one three-day stretch, he billed the council for 103 hours.
Justice Peden described those figures as “impossible”.
During cross-examination, Redenbach attributed some of the discrepancies to operator error, handwritten time sheets and the complications of travelling across time zones.
Justice Peden found those explanations “incredible” and “unsatisfactory”, adding that she did not accept Redenbach’s version of most events and found him to be a “thoroughly unimpressive witness” who at times appeared to intentionally refuse to respond to simple questions.
Redenbach’s hourly rate had climbed from $390 to $750 across the period of the retainer, and his bills included a 25 per cent success fee worth roughly $2.1 million and nearly $1 million in rate adjustments, neither of which Justice Peden allowed.
She found approximately $2.4 million in trust funds had been misapplied.
Redenbach was ordered to personally pay the council more than $1.5 million in compensation, with his firm ordered to pay more than $750,000 in restitution and an additional $504,698 in damages for misleading the council on fee estimates.
Broken Hill Mayor Tom Kennedy said council had been awarded several millions and expressed no surprise at the outcome.
This article appeared on Back Country Bulletin on 11 April 2026.
