Lawyers and experts welcomed the High Court’s ruling Wednesday, which approved a class action beauty parade approach to dealing with competing proceedings and provided guidance as to how judges might otherwise manage the problem of duplicative cases. Here, Lawyerly outlines the important things to take away from the majority’s judgment.
Judges have power to manage competing class actions by picking a winner in a so-called beauty parade, the High Court has ruled, but there is no one size fits all approach to the decision, and the law firm that files first is not guaranteed the coveted prize.
As pressure mounts for the board of MinterEllison to remove the law firm’s CEO in response to a staff email apologising for a partner’s representation of the federal attorney general, legal ethics experts told Lawyerly law firms must be free to vet potential clients, and that social issues may in the future play a bigger role in deciding whether to reject matters.
An independent review into Parliamentary workplace culture will be led by sex discrimination commissioner Kate Jenkins, the Federal Government has announced, two days after Christian Porter outed himself as the federal Cabinet member accused of raping a teenager 33 years ago.
Crown Resorts is facing the first ever oppressive conduct claims in a shareholder class action which alleges the casino giant had lax anti-money laundering compliance systems in place over a six-year period, a judge has heard.
Attorney-General Christian Porter has identified himself as the federal Cabinet member accused of raping a teenage girl 33 years ago, but says he denies the allegations and will not step down.
Dentons has snagged one partner and four lawyers from a Perth law firm to join its recovery and restructuring team, as part of its ambitious 2021 growth strategy.
Big Six law firm MinterEllison has snagged a a former deputy commissioner of the Australian Taxation Office to strengthen its tax controversy team.
A judge has said that Australia’s largest childcare centre operator, G8 Education, can apply for security for costs before a group costs order in a class action accusing the company of failing to keep investors in the loop about increased costs and occupancy rates affecting its 2017 financial performance.
Australia’s merger laws are not fit for purpose and the current approach to merger control needs to be rebalanced, the head of the ACCC has said in setting down the regulator’s agenda for 2021.