Gilchrist Connell

The High Court has declined to grant special leave to a former HWL Ebsworth client seeking to revive a decision that found the law firm’s bad advice over property in Parramatta’s ‘Auto Alley’ cost it $2 million.

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.

A court has found that the NRL’s insurance policy with Lloyd’s of London does not cover former South Sydney Rabbitohs star Ethan Lowe for the devastating injury he suffered during a State of Origin match four years ago, dismissing the retired rugby player’s $1 million lawsuit. 

HWL Ebsworth and a former capital partner have both appealed a ruling that found the partner was invalidly expelled in 2020 but that his partnership had been dissolved from the day he sued his former firm. 

Sydney-based plastic surgeon Daniel Lanzer and several of his associates have objected to a class action’s eighth attempt at getting its claims over allegedly negligent cosmetic procedures right, saying the plaintiffs were engaged in a “continuing cycle of propagating versions” of their case.

Gilchrist Connell is growing its national insurance practice, nabbing three litigation experts from rival firm Colin Biggers and Paisley for its Sydney office. 

A former HWL Ebsworth client has lost his argument that the firm must reimburse him for $22.8 million in expenses and interest after a judge found the law firm was negligent in advising on a joint venture contract for a Sydney land development, which allegedly lost him $130 million. 

A former capital partner at HWL Ebsworth has lost his argument that he remained in the firm’s partnership until last month, after a judge found he was invalidly expelled in 2020. 

The High Court has been asked to weigh in on whether a client needs to prove it could have exploited a lost commercial right in order to prevail in a law firm negligence case, after HWL Ebsworth successfully appealed a decision that found its bad advice over property in Parramatta’s ‘Auto Alley’ cost a client $2 million.

HWL Ebsworth has argued a former capital partner who was found to have been invalidly expelled in 2020 cannot claim a share of the law firm’s profits from then to now, saying he could not reap the benefits of partnership without the “burdens”.