Leading lawyers have welcomed a new practice note in the Commercial Court division of the Victorian Supreme Court, including a “rigid framework” to cut down on interlocutory disputation which is expected to benefit commercial class action litigants, but some say the note “should have gone further” to compel discovery from defendants.
How to tell if a judge is buried under a mountain of outstanding judgments? Their mood will say it all. A sure-fire way to prolong that hearing with a vexatious litigant? Engage them in dialogue. Here, Lawyerly shares a High Court judge’s war stories and tips for new members of the bench. But what weight to give them? That’s a matter for you, he says.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has dropped its investigation into whether Nuix’s chief executive officer Jonathan Rubinsztein unlawfully bought shares in the company after learning about a potential takeover offer.
A hearing in a class action to determine the extent of lost sales suffered by cattle exporters following a ban on live exports has been set down for April next year, making the case the oldest unresolved class action on the Federal Court docket.
Cross-border technology expert Lisa Fitzgerald has joined Norton Rose Fulbright from Lander & Rogers, bringing her expertise in media, telecommunications, privacy and intellectual property to the firm.
Sydney hospitality mogul Justin Hemmes has sued a Brisbane restaurant, Establishment 203, claiming it has breached its ‘Establishment’ trade mark and failed to carry out any searches before opening its business under the name.
A judge has questioned the relevance of an ex-Seven producer’s “sordid” evidence that the network rewarded him after using company funds to buy sex workers for the accused rapist Bruce Lehrmann, saying both sides had made strong arguments against his and Brittany Higgins’ credibility.
A judge has quashed a statutory demand by K&L Gates seeking $745,000 in fees from a former client, saying the law firm’s alleged debt included amounts owing its US counterpart, in currency converted to Australian dollars who knows when.
A judge hearing Bruce Lehrmann’s reopened defamation trial has expressed concern about evidence regarding non-parties to the lawsuit, including a solicitor who is said to have acted for Seven, saying “allegations are being thrown around like a gatling gun”.
A judge who tossed a $650 million lawsuit by dealers against Mercedes-Benz has said he rejected a “value-laden” take by other judges on what amounts to unconscionable conduct, avoiding what he mockingly described as “putatively profound” propositions “dollied up in prettified prose”.
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