Chief Justice Andrew Bell

HWL Ebsworth has won indemnity costs against a former client who alleged the firm gave negligent advice over property in Parramatta’s ‘Auto Alley’, with a court saying the client was the “author of the outcome about which it complains” by rejecting a $1.35 million settlement offer.

The top judge of the NSW Supreme Court, which has seen a precipitous drop in class actions, has defended his court and taken shots at the Supreme Court of Victoria and the Federal Court for embracing contingency fees for class action lawyers.

The former premier of NSW, Gladys Berejiklian, has failed in her bid to quash the state corruption watchdog’s finding that she engaged in serious corrupt conduct in awarding funds to the district of her politician boyfriend.

The top judge of the NSW Supreme Court has issued a warning over the use of artificial intelligence by practitioners, saying the technology may “encourage or feed laziness in research and analysis”.

The Chief Justice of the NSW Supreme Court has expressed concerns about a “slide in public respect” for institutions such as the court and the creeping phenomenon of “truth decay”.

The NSW Court of Appeal has said it has no power to exclude group members who do not sign up to a class action from participating in a settlement, upholding a controversial decision that the Full Federal Court said was “plainly wrong”. 

Appealing findings of serious corrupt conduct over her award of state funds to the district of then boyfriend and member of parliament Daryl Maguire, former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian has told a court politicians can have “personal attachments” while still acting in the public interest.

Practitioners have marked the passing of former NSW Supreme Court Justice Andrew Rogers KC, who will be remembered for transforming commercial litigation through his vigorous, often “brutal” approach to case management.

The top judge in NSW has called for more court resources and funding to ease the burden of an overworked judiciary, in an impassioned speech backed by the state’s solicitors and barristers.

The latest judge to join the NSW Supreme Court has expressed a desire to foster a serious but collegiate environment for advocates and has remarked on the rising importance of legal directories for barristers.