New requirements that funded class actions be run as managed investment schemes will throw up myriad new questions for the courts, with lawyers predicting novel challenges by defendants and group members and an altered landscape for competing class actions.
The migration to the digital courtroom is taking its toll on the nation’s barristers, who face increased challenges and levels of fatigue from the mental load of conducting hearings remotely.
Legal challenges to the New South Wales Health Minister’s orders mandating COVID-19 vaccinations for certain workers have already entered a third wave and cannot all be heard together, a court has heard.
The secretary of the NSW branch of the CFMEU and his branch manager son have been hit with a corruption charges over allegations they accepted payments from a Sydney building company in exchange for preferential treatment.
A ruling this week that rejected the first application for a group costs order in a class action because the applicants were better off with their existing no win, no fee arrangement was the right decision given the limits of the legislation, experts say.
Federal environment minister Sussan Ley has approved a controversial coal mining project that is expected to release 100 million tonnes of carbon dioxide into the Earth’s atmosphere, despite a landmark ruling that the government has a duty of care to consider the impact of fossil fuel projects on the next generation of Australians.
Saying the interests of class action members “must be given primacy”, a judge has rejected the first bid for a group costs order in a class action since contingency fee legislation passed in Victoria.
Despite COVID-19 case numbers in Australia hitting historic highs and the threat of an economic recession, law firms are cautiously optimistic about their ability to weather the storm without redundancies or reductions in staff pay.
The barrister acting for a former Deutsche Bank executive named in a criminal case over an ANZ share placement has ascended to the NSW Supreme Court.
The number of new class actions has nosedived in the past six months, but experts say the drop does not signal a long-term trend but a recalibration by lawyers and funders, whose ingenuity is not to be underestimated.