Raiding a competitor is a great way for ambitious law firms to expand their reach and achieve their strategic goals. In 2023 ten firms, big and small, managed to catch a big fish or lure whole teams of lawyers away from their rivals.
The federal government has hit back at a class action over an outbreak of white spot disease in South-East Queensland that decimated the commercial prawn industry, pointing the finger at several importers and saying farmers failed to mitigate their own losses.
Global law firm K&L Gates has lured the head of McInnes Wilson’s construction and infrastructure group to join its growing team in Brisbane.
Judges were not afraid to vent their spleen in 2023, but lawyers were not the only object of judicial scorn last year, as judges waded into public discourse and sounded off over issues including complex legislation, media reports, famous social media commentators, and the involvement of government departments in legal proceedings.
Aged care provider Anglicare has hit back at a class action filed on behalf of 25 people whose loved ones died during a COVID-19 outbreak at the Newmarch House in Sydney, saying it owed no duty of care to prevent mental harm to its residents’ family members.
A court fight has broken out between a vaccine developer and South Australia’s Flinders University over the supply of mice and access to a lab at the college, with the professor’s lawyer declaring the battle “literally a matter of life and death”.
The country’s most experienced class action law firm won two and lost two in last year’s beauty parades before the courts, showing track record is not everything when it comes to winning carriage of cases and that picking the winner can be a tricky business. From line-ball decisions to law firm team-ups and the lowest contingency fee order yet, here’s how 2023’s class action contests went down.
Over three years into a class action against failed asset finance lender Axsesstoday and auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers over a $50 million prospectus, the applicant has won the green light to add four insurers to the case.
Electric car giant Tesla has brought court proceedings against a NSW man seeking the removal of documents from the web, including material allegedly leaked by a former employee who recently raised concerns about the company’s self-driving software.
Atomos’ former US-based CEO — who was fired after she failed to relocate to Melbourne — has lost her fight to stay the video technology company’s lawsuit, with a judge finding the dispute over a bridging loan for the international move should be decided under Australian law.