Shine Lawyers

While the use of artificial intelligence is becoming more commonplace in law firms, it has not yet transformed the practice of law, with lawyers reporting that concerns about privacy, reliability, and liability mean the application of AI remains limited.

A judge has rejected a bid by in-fighting group members to bar children and non-Aboriginal residents in the Wreck Bay community from receiving a cut of an approved $22 million settlement over alleged PFAS contamination.

Delays in court approval of settlements in their pelvic mesh class actions against US giants Johnson & Johnson and Boston Scientific have been blamed for Shine Lawyers’ 89.39 per cent decline in net profits for 2023.

A judge has blessed a $132.7 million settlement and a $33 million common fund order in a class action over toxic firefighting foam, saying he was “not vexed” by whether he had power to grant the funder’s payout despite the Full Court having reserved on the contentious issue. 

After surviving multiple strike-out bids, a class action against Carnival over norovirus outbreaks on its Sun Princess cruise ship is still facing a “lurking” issue about a potential stay in relation to the claims of a subset of group members.

A class action against Carnival over norovirus outbreaks on its Sun Princess cruise ship has defeated the cruise operator’s second strike out bid, with a judge saying the failure to identify what exactly went wrong “may not be fatal” to the case.

A Blue Sky director has pointed the finger at auditor Ernst & Young in a class action alleging the collapsed investment firm misled shareholders by misstating its assets under management. 

A judge has refused a lead applicant’s novel bid for financial information to use at settlement discussions in a group proceeding against Dixon Advisory.

Class actions throw up all manner of ethical conundrums, but a recent Federal Court decision has shined a light on the question of whether funders and law firms should take out loans to run class actions and whether they can charge the costs to group members.

Shine Lawyers has lost its bid to recover $32 million in interest on a loan it took out to run two pelvic mesh class actions against Johnson & Johnson, with a judge finding it would make a “marginal settlement less than reasonable”.