Law firm Colin Biggers & Paisley has pulled off a merger in the middle of lockdown, acquiring a Melbourne law firm that will boost its partner count by six.
Lawyers running the scandal-ridden Banksia class action have been struck from the roll of practitioners, will face criminal investigation and must pay group members $11.7 million in damages.
It has been described as the darkest chapter in Victoria’s legal history, an exemplar of all that is terrible with class actions in Australia. A case of greedy lawyers who found their golden egg in a group of retirees who had lost their life savings, never thinking the chickens might come home to roost. Until now.
As Australia’s largest cities prepare to emerge from lockdown, law firms are doubling down on their efforts to vaccinate staff, with some going so far as to implement a ‘no jab, no office’ policy.
As states across Australia grapple with lockdowns and rising COVID-19 cases, lawyers practising in a range of areas, from employment to insurance, are bracing for a fresh wave of pandemic-related litigation before the year is out.
Barristers’ costs for a three-day hearing over alleged unfair dismissals of two childcare workers, which exceeded the $60,000 the workers were awarded, could have been avoided with a more “realistic” approach to negotiation, the Fair Work Commission has said.
Global mine technology company Minetek has lost its bid to access USB devices held by equipment manufacturer Howden’s solicitors for use in a potential lawsuit against a former employee who it says may have unlawfully used confidential company information.
Global mine technology company Minetek is considering a lawsuit against a former employee who may have unlawfully used confidential company information, a court has heard.
Monash IVF patients who accuse the company of destroying viable embryos are having “second thoughts” after accepting payment offers by the fertility clinic and signing away their rights to participate in a class action, a Victoria Supreme Court judge has heard.
Growing up in rural Australia as the son of a Vietnam veteran, Colin Biggers & Paisley partner Michael Russell’s childhood instilled in him a resilience and a can-do attitude which he credits with helping him tackle the most difficult class action defenses.