The son of controversial class action lawyer Mark Elliott has hired a big gun barrister to represent him in the Banksia class action proceedings and will be asking the judge overseeing the case against him to step aside.
The legal watchdog in Victoria will be asked to probe potential misconduct against the legal team behind the controversial Banksia Securities class action for their fees in a separate class action, which last year settled for $40 million.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is seeking a contempt finding against a former solicitor for defunct vocational trainer Empower Institute over alleged billing practices.
A judge has sentenced a Melbourne-based lawyer to six years in prison for stealing and misusing over $1.7 million in client funds, saying his conduct had “brought the legal profession into disrepute”.
The High Court’s abolition of the so-called Chorley exception, which allowed self-represented lawyers to recover their own expenses, also extends to incorporated legal practices through which a sole practitioner operates, a court has found.
Two former clients of Johnson Winter & Slattery cannot split a trial in their negligence proceeding against the law firm and have had a subpoena set aside as “vexatious, oppressive and unfair”.
Three Sydney-based law firms are now facing claims by Australian-Chinese investors seeking over $6 million in damages for allegedly negligent advice provided about investment properties developed by the now collapsed Ralan Group.
A Sydney criminal barrister is challenging a ruling that she engaged in unsatisfactory professional conduct by performing unnecessary work for her client and threatening to cancel a visit to see him in prison unless his father coughed up $5,000 first.
An IOOF subsidiary has appealed a $76.6 million judgment finding it breached its duty in the sale of a 46,000 hectare plantation by collapsed forestry giant Gunns Group and shooting down its cross claim seeking to pass liability onto law firm Sparke Helmore.
A court has slashed the costs awarded to a Tucker & Cowen name partner in a lawsuit brought by the liquidators of failed fund manager Equititrust, citing a recent High Court ruling that found self-represented lawyers cannot recover their own expenses.