Western Australia

A barrister who had a “close personal relationship” with a judge presiding over her case has been suspended and fined $10,000, after the High Court ruled their communications gave rise to the appearance of bias and justified recusal. 

Thomson Geer is set to nab four partners and 19 staff in a merger with boutique Perth-based firm Tottle Partners, expanding the national firm’s presence in Western Australia.

The ATO has lost its appeal of a tribunal decision in favour of Perth land developer Tina Bazzo, with the court rejecting its “all or nothing” approach to a key provision of the Taxation Administration Act.

Brittany Higgins’ partner David Sharaz has dropped his defence in a defamation case brought by Senator Linda Reynolds over social media posts that allegedly implied the former Defence Minister pressured Higgins not to pursue a complaint against rapist Bruce Lehrmann.

Japanese company Hitachi has hit back at a lawsuit filed by the entity in charge of a $511 million waste-to-energy plant in Western Australia which accuses Acciona of withholding $38.6 million in bank guarantees, denying any joint liability with the Spanish infrastructure giant.

A prominent Perth lawyer acting for ex-defence minister Linda Reynolds in defamation cases against former staffer Brittany Higgins and her partner has been fined and reprimanded for two counts of professional misconduct in a separate matter.

The entity in charge of a $511 million waste-to-energy plant south of Perth has filed a second lawsuit against Acciona, accusing the Spanish infrastructure giant of withholding $38.6 million in bank guarantees to use as leverage in unrelated disputes about the troubled project.

A Perth solicitor found guilty of professional misconduct for failing to pay a barrister’s $137,000 bill and deliberately misleading the Legal Practice Board of WA has been struck from the roll of practitioners.

A litigant in an estate dispute dropped his lawyers and filed a notice to the court naming Dentons Australia as his new firm of solicitors. Unhappily for him he made two mistakes: filing the notice himself, and apparently failing to tell anyone at Dentons he had hired them.

A former corporate adviser will spend at least nine months in jail after pleading guilty to trading in Genesis Minerals shares in September 2021 with insider knowledge, netting almost $60,000 in profits.