Construing an “ambiguous” order from the Full Federal Court, a judge has ordered a fresh trial in a trade secrets case that touched on the permissible scope of law firms’ involvement in drafting expert reports.
Government should shift away from using large professional services firms for advisory work and retain barristers to help avoid conflicts, increase accountability and ensure value for money, the Victorian Bar has told an inquiry.
The ACT legal watchdog was not barred from investigating a second complaint of misconduct against a Canberra solicitor after an initial complaint was dismissed, a judge has found.
A court made valid orders for a Queensland solicitor to pay back $251,255 to the relative of a former client, an appeals court has found, saying that “exorbitant charging debases the reputation of the legal profession”.
A new report shows lawyers are already managing the risks of unknowingly facilitating money laundering and don’t need to be subjected to “an extreme, disproportional and potentially damaging AML/CTF regime”, according to the Law Council of Australia.
An investigator has failed in his appeal of a $350,000 defamation award for former Perth barrister Lloyd Rayney on the grounds of apprehended bias.
A solicitor has been found guilty of professional misconduct for shuttering his law practice to avoid paying a barrister’s $137,000 bill and for repeatedly failing to respond to the legal watchdog’s subsequent requests for information.
A judge has restrained a Perth law firm from acting in a case against developer Tina Bazzo and her husband, finding an information barrier protocol was not enough to offset concerns about the firm’s prior representation of Bazzo in another dispute.
An appeals court has set aside findings of professional misconduct against a Perth solicitor who allegedly failed to pay a silk $23,000 in fees after finding a tribunal member had served on a chambers’ board with the senior barrister for eight years.
Australian singer The Kid Laroi has failed to restrain solicitors who acted for his benefit in negotiating a record deal from representing his former manager in a contractual dispute, with a judge rejecting arguments the lawyers could be seen as “switching sides”.