In Wigmans v AMP the High Court will shortly deliver judgment on the vexed issue of class actions that compete to represent substantially the same class or group. Dr Michael Duffy of Monash University previews the decision.
Allens has snagged two new heavy hitters from HWL Ebsworth to bolster its corporate team in Perth.
Herbert Smith Freehills has snagged one of the country’s leading competition lawyers who advised on two of the biggest and most contentious mergers in recent years from rival Clayton Utz to join its market-leading competition and trade practices group.
A judge has rejected a judicial review request by One Nation chief-of-staff James Ashby who sought to have the Commonwealth foot the bill for nearly $4.5 million in legal costs stemming from a dropped sexual harassment case against former House speaker Peter Slipper.
Lawyerly’s Litigation Firms of 2020 delivered significant victories for clients last year in bet-the-company matters, thriving in a tumultuous year that saw courts and litigants adapt to virtual trials and other new norms that are sure to outlast the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a year headlined by partisan sparring and mudslinging over the Federal Government’s class action reform effort, judges forged ahead to refine the class action regime, issuing significant judgments on common fund orders and class closure, and handing the first post-trial win to a company in a shareholder class action. Here, Lawyerly takes you through some of the major class action events in 2020 and their consequences for the year ahead.
While there was no shortage of pain and challenges for law firms as the coronavirus raged across the globe last year, a number of big firms also felt the sting of litigation from disgruntled clients, partners and employees.
Payouts in class actions in 2020 largely kept pace with the previous year despite the financial strain of the COVID-19 pandemic, with companies and other defendants paying more than $696 million to settle class actions last year.
Class action experts have knocked several recommendations from the Parliamentary Joint Committee for reforming the class action system, including that group members be guaranteed at least 70 per cent of any settlement or judgment, saying this would be challenging to implement and could make disputes harder to resolve.
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