Mills Oakley has lured a founding partner of Hamilton Locke and an environmental, social and governance lead from KPMG to join its Sydney team.
Although carefully reasoned, last week’s landmark judgment by the Full Federal Court finding power to grant contingency fees to class action solicitors has placed the question of statutory authority to award settlement common fund orders on more unsteady ground than before, experts say.
The commissioner of South Australia’s ICAC has stepped down for “mostly professional” reasons, saying her criticisms of 2021 reforms that limited the commission’s power to crack down on public corruption “have fallen on deaf ears”.
The nation’s peak legal body has reiterated its concerns about proposed rules that would subject lawyers and accountants to new money laundering obligations, warning the regulations would impose a costly “red tape burden for no good reason” on smaller firms.
A shareholder has filed an application for preliminary discovery against KMPG and water treatment company Phoslock as she weighs a possible class action over the company’s past fraud and mismanagement.
Law firm Johnson Winter Slattery has recruited energy and resources specialist Nick Thorne for the firm’s Brisbance office, an appointment that represents a reunion for a former Corrs Chambers Westgarth trio.
The Federal Court is set to become a more attractive forum for class actions now that the Full Court has confirmed it has power to make orders granting solicitors a contingency fee from any settlement or judgment in a group proceeding.
A Greens senator has called for reducing a proposed immunity from climate disclosure litigation from three years to one after lawyers, including the NSW Bar Association, blasted the moratorium. But some law firms say the immunity doesn’t go far enough and should shield companies and their officers from continuous disclosure-related claims.
Veteran corporate lawyer Jim Peterson has left Baker McKenzie to join the Clayton Utz team as a legal consultant in Brisbane.
A Senate committee has release a damning report blasting the Australian Securities and Investments Commission as a failed regulator that should be broken up.