It has been described as the darkest chapter in Victoria’s legal history, an exemplar of all that is terrible with class actions in Australia. A case of greedy lawyers who found their golden egg in a group of retirees who had lost their life savings, never thinking the chickens might come home to roost. Until now.
An appeals court hearing the case of a barrister who allegedly made a sexual comment to a clerk while intoxicated at a dinner following a legal industry event has questioned how a professional reprimand can serve a protective purpose if the person remains unnamed.
Trial judges should not communicate with barristers outside of court, the High Court has ruled in a âtroublingâ case of apprehended bias that saw a divorceeâs counsel socialising with the judge presiding over her long-running and âtorturedâ Family Law case.
A Sydney solicitor accused of stealing over $130,000 from a client and doctoring five invoices has lost a bid to pause the NSW Law Societyâs suspension of her certificate after a judge found there was a âvery significantâ risk of harm to the public if she continued to practice.
A former barrister has continued to practice in local courts without a valid practising certificate, in âvery seriousâ criminal contempt of a court-ordered injunction, the NSW Bar Association has told a court.
A PwC partner who the ATO claims was assigned to work on a matter for meat processing company JBS to bring a âcloak of legal privilegeâ kept a supporting role on the brief despite the company CFOâs dissatisfaction, a court has heard.
Accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers used one of its legally qualified partners as a “postbox” to provide a “cloak of privilege” to work conducted for meat processing company JBS, the Commissioner of Taxation has told the Federal Court.
An appeals court has upheld a ruling that Sydney law firm Atanaskovic Hartnell was not entitled to the bulk of $165,000 in legal fees charged to two media company clients defrauded by jailed former solicitor Brody Clarke, calling the firm’s attempt to renege on its undertakings “dishonourable”.
The Australian Bar Association has criticised âflawedâ methodology used to analyse the competency of judges, weighing in on controversy over the Australian Law Reform Commissionâs handling of a submission to its judicial impartiality inquiry.
A Melbourne lawyer, who formerly represented gangland figures, has been reprimanded and fined $9,000, after a court found he recklessly misled the Victorian Legal Services Commissioner regarding his involvement in a de-facto relationship matter in which unsatisfactory professional conduct was allege