Running a law firm is not without risk, chief among them staring down a lawsuit by a client, an ex-partner or employee, even a rival firm. Last year, Australian firms faced numerous actions alleging everything from sex discrimination to negligence.
A court has slashed the costs awarded to a Tucker & Cowen name partner in a lawsuit brought by the liquidators of failed fund manager Equititrust, citing a recent High Court ruling that found self-represented lawyers cannot recover their own expenses.
Australia’s law firms are stepping up in response to the bushfire crisis across the country, pledging money, pro bono work — even P2 masks — to support those hardest hit.
A former Norton Rose Fulbright partner has lost his bid to block King & Wood Mallesons and two barristers from representing the law firm in a long-running feud over his termination, with an appeals court calling his allegations against the legal team “unfounded and misconceived”.
Law firm Thomson Geer is facing a negligence lawsuit by a commercial property investment firm over advice it gave in relation to a $120 million Melbourne car park acquisition.
An appeals court has slashed a $450,000 judgment against law firm HWL Ebsworth to $127,000, after finding a former partner who sued the firm for unfair dismissal had not lost the opportunity to seek other employment.
Boutique IP firm Pizzeys Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys has won its bid for preliminary discovery to pursue possible claims against two patent attorneys who left the firm to start their own competing business.
A former general manager who is suing law firm Atanaskovic Hartnell for alleged bullying and faces cross claims that she failed to satisfactorily perform her job was offered a part-time role with the firm after resigning, despite being “grossly negligent”, a court has heard.
A former senior Piper Alderman partner who lodged a sex discrimination case against the firm and was forced off the partnership in June is broadening her case, a court has heard.
Funder IMF Bentham expects to bring in up to $130 million in income for backing the Queensland floods class action, after a judge ruled last week that the operator of two dams as well as the state government were responsible for the severity of the flooding that hit Southeast Queensland in 2011.