Slater & Gordon is poised to go private in an off-market takeover by Allegro Funds valuing the company at 55 cents per share, 16 years after it became the first law firm to list on the ASX, reaching a peak valuation of $2.8 billion.
The Albanese government has started a public consultation after ditching provisions from sex harassment legislation which would have forced parties to bear their own costs in discrimination litigation, noting that lawyers favour an ‘equal access’ costs model.
Maurice Blackburn has had a second crack at a group costs order in three class actions against banks over alleged flexible commission schemes after a judge in 2021 rejected what was then the first-ever application for a contingency fee.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has lost its challenge to a decision that tossed its case alleging NSW Ports stymied competition when it signed a 50-year agreement with the state to privatise two ports.
Journalist Tegan George has reworked her sex discrimination case against Network Ten, claiming the Canberra bureau had a culture that was “sexually hostile, demeaning and oppressive”.
A judge has referred to an appeals court the question of whether a group costs order can “travel”, as KPMG continues to push to transfer a shareholder class action over the collapse of mining company Arrium to New South Wales.
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has urged the Full Court to toss ASIC’s challenge to a decision dismissing its conflicted remuneration case over the bank’s sale of its Essential Super product, saying the appeal suffered from “fatal” flaws.
Insurer Bond & Credit Company has lost its appeal of a decision ordering it to indemnify an Australian non-bank lender that provided $8 million in trade finance to companies in Phoenix Group shortly before its collapse.
The Transport Workers Union has predicted wide-reaching consequences for workplace rights if Qantas succeeds in its High Court appeal of a finding that it breached the Fair Work Act when it outsourced ground crew work during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A mortgage broker has lost his challenge to a tribunal’s decision to uphold a lifelong ban by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.