Legal Ethics

Under pressure from parliamentary committee members, KPMG said late Friday it would waive privilege and hand over investigation reports from Allens and Ashurst, after initially resisting orders for documents.

The Law Council says asserting legal professional privilege is not "inherently scandalous", ahead of a parliamentary hearing on KPMG's sharing ofclient information, at which law firms Allens and Ashurst are expected to stay mum.

A judge has rejected claims by a Neil Mansell unit that comments he made at a mention in February made it appear he had a “closed mind” in deciding a long-running dispute over a Sunshine Coast quarry. 

Melbourne-based firm Carbone Lawyers has filed a case against two former solicitors who moved to a rival firm, claiming they breached their confidentiality obligations.

US drug maker Cosette is appealing a judge’s decision not to disqualify himself from Mayne Pharma's lawsuit seeking damages over the termination of their $672 million if he is appointed to case manage the dispute. 

Star's former group general counsel has told a judge she should not have to pay a $1.1 million fine for breaching her directors duties because she has suffered “extra-curial detriment” that includes unemployment. 

'Carpark King' Damian Lester has failed to persuade the Federal Court to stop law firm ERA Legal from representing lenders that he alleges engaged in unconscionable conduct over a $66.7 loan.

Vexatious recusal applications by self-represented litigants are on the rise, according to the peak body for judicial officers in Australia, and they increasingly involve “unwarranted intrusions” into judges' personal lives that would not be allowed in any other workplace.

A former client of a Sydney law firm has lost his bid to up a $300,000 damages award against the firm over a defective notice in a proposed $7.8 million land sale.

The former lawyer for Broken Hill Council, who was ordered to return over $2 million in unauthorised fees, has been socked with a $1 million order for indemnity costs for “exceptional” conduct in a case over his firm's rates.