As we reach the 30-year anniversary of the modern form of class action in Australia, an enduring characteristic of class action practice in this country is that the area is not well-suited to those who enjoy certainty or predictability, say Jason Betts, Aoife Xuereb and Melissa Gladstone-Joyce of Herbert Smith Freehills.
The NSW Supreme Court’s new Chief Justice has used his maiden speech to lament how remote hearings and working from home has led to the “insidious depersonalisation” of the legal profession, with half-empty chambers and solicitor’s offices losing their soul and personality.
Buy now, pay later giant Zip Co cannot rely on its infringing use of the ‘Zip’ trade mark to defend a lawsuit by the mark’s owner Firstmac, the mortgage provider’s barrister told a judge on the first day of trial in the high-stakes intellectual property dispute.
Online marketplace Redbubble cannot rely on the terms of a settlement with the US chapter of Hells Angels to avoid trade mark infringement claims by the Australian arm of the bikie gang, a court has ruled.
Clients of Linchpin Capital Group and subsidiary Endeavour Securities who were promised investments in a diversified loan portfolio were instead duped into funding Linchpin’s own business interests and lining its directors’ pockets, a judge has heard as trial got underway in ASIC’s case against three former Linchpin directors.
The maker of Mother brand energy drinks has filed an appeal challenging a judge’s decision to remove two of its registered ‘Mother’ trade marks for non-use.
A Tasmanian environmental group is taking the state and federal governments to court over a mining company’s plan to dump toxic waste into Tarkine rainforest in the island’s north west, which the group says could lead to the extinction of the Tasmanian masked owl.
HWL Ebsworth’s clients suffered a staggering $130 million loss when the law firm’s solicitors failed to notice “obvious red flags” in a joint venture contract for an ambitious Sydney-based land development, a court has heard.
Nando’s Australia has been criticised for claiming that its costs in a dispute against a single franchisee could reach close to $2 million, with an associate judge saying the bill could kickstart a precedent that leads to “the end of litigation as we know it”.
Taking the stand Monday in a defamation dispute with mining billionaire Clive Palmer, WA premier Mark McGowan said Palmer’s “hurtful and outrageous” public comments led to death threats against his wife and family.
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