Westpac has been hit with a class action for allegedly overcharging superannuation customers for insurance coverage, months after paying $30 million to settle a separate superannuation class action.
The ASX-listed Shine Lawyers has earned marks for improvement in a review by ASIC of its disclosures relating to interest on litigation funding loans, the corporate regulator said Thursday.
A resident of the Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community has been granted more time to decide whether he wants to bring a late bid to opt out of a class action after a $22 million settlement over PFAS contamination was approved, but a judge has warned he will face a high bar.
The lawyer who advised Seqwater in its successful defence of the monumental Queensland floods class action has joined Shine Lawyers as one of the firm’s three class action practice leaders.
A former top judge appointed to decide the first-ever contest to administer a class action settlement has set out his criteria for making the choice, and has warned that giving the firm running a case a monopoly right to dole out the proceeds could lead to higher costs for group members and poorer settlement outcomes.
The judge who rewarded the law firm with the lowest ever GCO proposal with carriage of an $80 million class action this week noted the competitive forces that shaped a “very good deal for group members,” but competition has its downsides, experts say.
The winning, 14 per cent contingency fee proposal by Slater & Gordon in a fight to run a class action against Star Entertainment was not driven by a desire to prevail in the contest and buy market share but was the product of a “reasoned decision” that took into account the law firm’s practice as a whole, a judge has found.
One law firm has emerged victorious in a four-way contest to run a shareholder class action against Star Entertainment with the lowest proposed group costs order since contingency fees legislation was enacted in Victoria.
The runner-up in a contest to administer Johnson & Johnson’s $300 million settlement of two pelvic mesh class actions has lost a challenge to a decision awarding the prize to the team of Slater & Gordon, BDO and the firm of former Shine Lawyers solicitor Jan Saddler.
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.