A law firm has escaped an order for costs sought by a Melbourne city council that argued the firm had turned a blind eye to a client’s lack of credibility in an unfair dismissal case.
Herbert Smith Freehills has picked up a leading work health and safety lawyer from Clyde & Co to join the Big Six law firm in Sydney as special counsel.
Last year brought economic growth and success for law firms, but 2021 was not only marked with good news. A slew of law firms were dragged into litigation by disgruntled ex-clients, with some paying out millions of dollars to resolve lawsuits accusing them of giving bad advice.
A Sydney-based barrister has been reprimanded for relying on his “gut feeling” in making baseless accusations of misconduct against the principal of a law firm.
The New South Wales Bar Association has lost an appeal seeking a financial penalty and a professional reprimand against a Sydney barrister for his “poorly judged, vulgar and inappropriate” behaviour, with an appeals court finding damage to his reputation and a hike in his insurance premium dwarfed any punishment it could dole out.
An appeals court has dismissed an appeal in a professional negligence lawsuit by a New South Wales developer against HWL Ebsworth over a due diligence report that led to the purchase of a $25.5 million parcel of government land at risk of flooding.
A Western Australian lawyer will face penalties and disciplinary action in the State Administrative Tribunal after nine professional misconduct findings were made against him, including a finding that he knowingly sought to mislead the Supreme Court.
Hall & Wilcox is strengthening its presence in Western Australia with the appointment of three lawyers nabbed from the now-closed commercial law firm Kott Gunning.
A Melbourne solicitor has been banned from legal practice until 2035 after a tribunal found him guilty of eight charges of professional misconduct and unsatisfactory professional conduct for allegedly misleading a court about his entitlement to practice.
In the crucial early years of practice junior barristers have been deprived of vital learning opportunities as a result of COVID-19 lockdowns necessitating the move to online court hearings. The promised return to in-person proceedings is critical for the professional development of counsel just starting out, and equally critical for the Bar as a whole, says noted silk Rachel Doyle.