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Last year brought economic growth and success for law firms, but 2021 was not only marked with good news. A slew of law firms were dragged into litigation by disgruntled ex-clients, with some paying out millions of dollars to resolve lawsuits accusing them of giving bad advice.
AUSTRAC has expanded into investigation into Star Entertainment's compliance with anti-money laundering laws, two months after a third law firm announced a shareholder class action investigation into the casino operator on the back of damning media reports.
If evidence were needed that courts are not rubber stamping class action settlements, the scrutiny of multi-million dollar agreements in 2021 is proof positive that judicial oversight of representative proceedings is robust.
Accounting giant KPMG is seeking the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by a former long-serving employee over “unnecessarily aggressive, belittling and disproportionate” emails allegedly attacking his professional integrity.
Class action settlement totals skyrocketed to over $900 million last year, and one law firm negotiated the lion's share, with $672 million in settlements under its belt.
The Transport Workers Union has appealed a judge's decision that compensation was a more appropriate remedy for 1,800 Qantas workers who had been denied the "matchless blessing" of a job than reinstatement.
The lead applicant in a superannuation class action against two IOOF units has successfully appealed a decision that barred the case from proceeding under a carveout in Victoria's Supreme Court Act forbidding class actions involving trust property.
A judge has rejected the TWU's request for the reinstatement of around 1,800 outsourced Qantas workers, finding it was inevitable that the airline would retrench the workers again as soon as lawfully possible.
A judge has signed off on a $35 million settlement in a class action against the Northern Territory government over alleged human rights abuses against youth detainees, including $9.4 million in fees for Maurice Blackburn.
Oil exploration company PTTEP has appealed a judge's findings that oil that gushed from one of its wells in the Timor Sea in 2009 reached the coasts of Indonesian islands and damaged the crops of local seaweed farmers.