VCAT has found a Melbourne lawyer is not fit to practice after he sent threatening text messages to a witness in proceedings involving his former law firm.
A tribunal has recommended that a Sydney solicitor be struck from the roll after finding him guilty of professional misconduct for sending numerous profane emails to a Mills Oakley solicitor during a dispute, noting the “unrelenting stream of discourteous, insulting or offensive correspondence” directed to the tribunal.
A law firm partner has avoided personal liability for costs after expert reports were filed late in a dispute with developer Mirvac over alleged defects in a Sydney apartment complex, having walked back an appeal to “competing commitments” that didn’t wash in court.
The Legal Practice Board’s decision to audit lawyers at a compensation firm following a complaint about paralegals allegedly engaging in unqualified legal practice has been quashed, with a court finding the law didn’t permit investigation of individual solicitors.
Sydney-based wealth guru Dominique Grubisa has been banned from managing corporations for 18 months after an ASIC investigation found two companies she managed owed more than $300,000 to creditors.
The judge who presided over ASIC’s successful case against payday lender Sunshine Loans has recused himself from deciding on penalty in the matter, saying a new court protocol might be needed for when a judge makes an adverse credit finding during the liability phase of a case.
A judge has rejected a law firm’s attempt to update its bid to run class actions against Hyundai and Kia, saying the changes were intended to net the firm a competitive advantage in an upcoming fight for carriage of the class actions and different in substance from its previous position.
A judge has set aside a costs agreement between a Perth-based law firm and its client in a family law matter that culminated in a $87,000 bill, saying the agreement was “positively misleading” with respect to the applicable hourly rates.
Keybridge Capital chief executive officer Nicholas Bolton has lost his appeal of a costs review panel decision that saddled him with a legal bill of $308,940 for work done by Atanaskovic Hartnell for his company in a dispute with Brookfield Multiplex.
Law firm Holding Redlich has been hit with proceedings over invoices totalling more than $334,000 by an ex-client who says the firm provided no cost agreement and made no cost disclosure over the course of an eight-month retainer.