Eleven law firms reign supreme in the legal market for class actions in Australia, with ten or more class actions on their plates, and two firms are way ahead of the pack, according to Lawyerly’s inaugural ranking of the country’s top class action groups.
Jailed solicitor and fraudster Brody Clarke was not the mediocre, junior lawyer his boss at Sydney law firm Atanaskovic Hartnell made him out to be, a judge has said, but was considered a “young hot shot” who perpetrated a “catastrophic” $9 million fraud on media mogul Bruce Gordon in the scope of his employment.
Engineering company UGL has reached an in-principle settlement in a class action alleging it kept shareholders in the dark about problems with a $900 million contract for a power plant for the Ichthys LNG project in the Northern Territory.
Burford Capital has come under fire by a US short-seller which claims the litigation funder has engaged in misleading accounting practices and is a “poor business masquerading as a great one”.
The competition regulator has raised concerns about Bis Industries’ proposed acquisition of Cougar Mining Group, saying the threat of new competitors appeared unlikely to significantly constrain the combined company.
Consumer giant Unilever has dropped its challenge to a ruling that found competitor Beiersdorf did not make misleading claims about its Nivea clinical strength deodorant products.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has appealed a Federal Court ruling that found Woolworths’ environmental claims for its line of compostable plates, bowls and cutlery were accurate, not false and misleading.
While the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has set out to rein in the market power of Google and Facebook, the sweeping proposals in the regulator’s final digital platforms report would affect a large number of businesses and could have a detrimental effect on smaller companies and innovation, lawyers say.
Ex-Tennis Australia director Harold Mitchell, facing enforcement action by ASIC alleging he breached his duties in awarding Australian Open broadcast rights to the Seven Network, has asked a court for all evidence the regulator obtained from former board member Graeme Holloway, who died in February.
A judge has given the all-clear to an investment management company to access evidence for potential legal action against the National Stock Exchange of Australia after the firm’s shares were suspended without warning or explanation.