Australian law firm Mills Oakley has established an IP practice in its Melbourne office, snatching a senior lawyer from rival K&L Gates, which is now set to lose five IP specialists in the space of almost two months.
The job of a senior Piper Alderman partner is in jeopardy after a court refused to extend an injunction preventing her from being ousted from the partnership while she battles a sex discrimination case against the firm.
A judge’s decision to pick Maurice Blackburn’s no win, no fee class action against AMP over three funded class actions puts the pressure on litigation funders, which will now face more competition from law firms prepared to go it alone, experts say. The ruling also shows the value courts place on funding arrangements that seek to maximise returns for class members, which means class action beauty parades are sure to get less ugly.
A ruling by a judge deciding a four-way contest to run a shareholder class action against AMP is expected this week, a judgment significant not just because it is the first time a court in Australia has been asked to choose among so many competing representative cases.
ANZ has recruited seasoned class actions lawyer Ken Adams to be its next group general counsel as the bank faces two cases over a botched share placement and braces for the possibility of more litigation in the wake of the Banking Royal Commission.
The Federal Court has approved a scheme of arrangement which will see investors take a 70 per cent stake in troubled fund manager Angas Securities, receiving a possible $52.2 million in shares and other assets.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has apologised for botching the announcement of its plan to block the $15 billion merger of TPG and Vodafone, blaming a computer glitch for the error.
The writing may be on the wall for common fund orders in class actions that put all unregistered group members on the hook for a litigation funder’s commission, after the High Court agreed Wednesday to take up landmark challenges by Westpac and BMW, experts say.
A self-represented former client of personal injury firm Arnold Thomas & Becker has successfully blocked an application for summary judgment in a dispute that alleges the firm advised him to accept settlement of his workplace sexual assault case so they could receive their costs.
A Chicago jury has ordered an Australian maker of ugg boots to pay US-based footwear company Deckers Outdoor US$450,000 ($643,000) in damages for infringing the company’s trade mark.