Life at the criminal Bar was never meant to be easy. The work itself, we are told, is stimulating, but the financial rewards don’t hold a candle to the legal loot that commercial lawyers make dealing with much drier material.

This is why the Kooka Brothers are scratching their collective craniums for a reason for anyone in the underworld to firebomb Nicola “Smurf” Gobbo’s BMW soft top in South Melbourne last night. If indeed that is what happened. The coppers won’t confirm it was her car and the good lady herself has issued a regulatory “no comment”.

Our suspicions were aroused by Fire Brigade spokeswoman Heather Stockton who said police were called because an amount of cash was found at the scene.

Gobbo was admitted to the Perth bar in 1997 and lists her areas of practice as mental health as well as criminal law.

According to Meldrum’s List, the lawyers’ bible, Nicola completed her articles at a large commercial firm, before deciding upon her admission to the Bar that a “life of crime” was more her style. Nicola loves the challenge of advocacy and having to think on her feet and has found that her practice has continued to evolve to include trial work. Her lifetime ambition is to be cast in the The Smurfs movie.

Although lawyers like George Defteros and Zara Garde-Wilson have somehow become part of the story in the underworld war between the Carlton Crew and the Sunshine Scum gangs, Gobbo has always appeared to be an honest broker that has represented both sides of the fence.

We saw her recently as a spokeswoman for Big Mick Gatto and she has represented Carl “Babyface” Williams and “Fat Tony” Mokbel in the past.

We conclude only a mental case would knowingly harm a friend of Big Mick’s.

But why would you keep cash in a convertible?