The NSW Court of Appeal has issued a judgment contradicting a finding from its Victorian counterpart, ruling that law firm Atanaskovic Hartnell can recover costs for work done by its own solicitors in a lawsuit against a former client in which the firm represented itself.
The peak body for Australian judges has condemned an inquiry into a Supreme Court Justice reportedly charged with assault, saying that it will have sweeping powers that interfere with the judiciary’s independence and violate “basic notions of fairness”.
The Council for the Law Society of NSW can seek disciplinary findings against a solicitor who was previously banned over social media posts encouraging people to flout COVID-19 mandates and representing that a judge condoned rape and murder.
A judge has reduced the jail sentence imposed on a Brisbane man who falsely represented he was a lawyer on the Airtasker app, but refused his bid to get away with a fine, saying a prison term “was the only appropriate sentencing option” in the case.
A law firm that brought class actions against Hyundai and Kia over alleged faulty anti-lock braking systems has been replaced ahead of a contest against Maurice Blackburn to run the cases.
Federal parliament has passed legislation extending judicial immunity to judges on the Federal Circuit and Family Court, after a judge on the court was held personally liable for the false imprisonment of a Queensland man.
A former senior associate at Arnold Bloch Leibler has lost her bid for review of a decision tossing her claims against the solicitor and barrister retained to represent her in proceedings in the Magistrates Court.
A Sydney lawyer has been ordered to pay the costs of a property dispute after a judge found his conduct meant the case was “doomed to fail” and caused the costs of the litigation to be wasted.
A man awarded $300,000 after he was unlawfully imprisoned for contempt has won his legal costs from the judge who jailed him. But a court has rejected his bid to recoup the costs paid to a damages expert in his case, finding he gave her “incomplete, inaccurate and unreliable” instructions.
Marcus Bastiaan has sued solicitors who acted in his settled defamation case against Nine over branch stacking allegations, claiming the legal bill was “grossly disproportionate” and almost double his settlement.