Law Firms

In the third decision approving an unaltered group costs order at the resolution of a class action, a judge has OK'd an $85 million settlement by ANZ, representing a $21 million payday for Maurice Blackburn.

A judge has given the greenlight to a $10 million settlement with entities linked to late solicitor and Banksia class action mastermind Mark Elliott, noting the “perverse” difficulty of recovering more of the $70 million in assets held on trust.

Retirement village operator Lifestyle Communities has foreshadowed an appeal after a tribunal ruled that exit fees charged to departing residents were void.

Shinetec, the Australian arm of China’s Shanxi Construction Investment Group, has won orders restraining the developer of an abandoned $185 million project in NSW from accessing $48 million paid to it by Bank of China.

A court has found a NSW prefab home builder that convinced a couple to vary their contract to allow different cladding which did not have the same aesthetic effect as their preferred one engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct.

Two conservation groups opposing Whitehaven Coal’s Winchester South coal mine in Queensland's Bowen Basin have won court approval to adduce late expert evidence on possible climate scenarios.

Melbourne developer SK Developments has won freezing orders against a builder, with a judge finding there was a danger that a $1.98 million judgment could be avoided. 

A judge has stopped short of making costs orders against a law firm despite finding it was responsible for delays in a workplace discrimination suit.

A tribunal has found a company that scrapes court databases broke privacy laws by failing to remove a litigant's name after charges against her were dropped, saying the public nature of court lists doesn't make republication a “free for all”.

Baker McKenzie has poached a banking and finance partner from Norton Rose Fulbright.