Judges

After 50 directions hearings, a long-running dispute between the owners of a 23-storey building in Docklands and insurer AAI will go to trial next year, a fed-up judge has said.

A legal challenge over a Sydney private school's plans to go co-ed has been dismissed, with a judge ruling the word "youth" in the school's 150-year old founding document had a gender neutral meaning.

A former client of Coleman Grieg has lost her challenge to alleged “exorbitant” fees charged by the law firm, with a judge also rejecting her contention that she signed costs notices under duress.

A judge has balked at Maurice Blackburn's hourly rates in a jointly run class action against Treasury Wine Estates, questioning why the firm charged 20 per cent more than fellow preeminent class action firm Slater & Gordon. 

Lendlease can't bring new claims in an unsuccessful fight over Campbelltown plots worth $120 million, with a judge finding it was not appropriate to allow the amendments "at this very late stage".

A judge has ordered a Sydney law firm to pay $427,000 to a former client after finding it drafted a defective notice in a land sale and defended proceedings that came about because of its own negligence.

The liquidators of a company created to invest in a $2.2 million Adelaide property have asked the High Court to reinstate a judgment that found a mortgage that sent the company into liquidation was an unreasonable director-related transaction and could be voided. 

The corporate watchdog has brought proceedings against the former director of collapsed cryptocurrency exchange platform Blockchain Global for alleged violations of his directors duties. 

The receiver appointed a decade ago to claw back money for investors in failed Banksia Securities might seek the protection of a court order releasing him from proposed new proceedings, which would also target lawyers alleged to have breached their overarching obligations.

A judge has approved a bid by two law firms to join forces in class actions against Harvey Norman, but has ordered that a costs monitor be appointed to protect against duplication.