Reforms to simplify and modernise Australia’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regime will see lawyers and accountants subject to the regulations for the first time.
Approved settlements in class actions since the regime was enacted are set to top $8 billion this year, according to a new report ranking the busiest litigation funders, which found most class action mega settlements were not funder backed.
Last year saw the lowest number of new class action filings in Australia since 2016, according to a new report.
A law firm and several peak bodies for professionals in the corporate sphere have criticised the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s enforcement track record, saying the regulator is inefficient and fails to properly address misconduct.
A federal Human Rights Act would allow complainants to take their cases to federal court if conciliation failed to resolve their claims, under a proposed model of the law unveiled Wednesday.
The ACCC will monitoring the pricing and supply of essential services such as energy and telecommunications as well as interest rates in 2023 as cost of living pressures continue to bear down on consumers.
The Albanese government has started a public consultation after ditching provisions from sex harassment legislation which would have forced parties to bear their own costs in discrimination litigation, noting that lawyers favour an ‘equal access’ costs model.
The question of power to make a common fund order at the end of a class action was no longer a hypothetical one and it was time to send the issue to the Full Federal Court. That’s what the 7-Eleven class action judge was told 15 months ago but he failed to heed the advice, resulting in a court deeply divided and funders clamouring for reform.
A local court magistrate showed apprehended bias by not allowing a self-represented plaintiff to take notes during cross-examination, a judge has found.
A landmark Federal Court class action against private health insurer Medibank will be a test case for when privacy claims can sidestep the regulatory path, and whether group members can prove they suffered loss from exposure of their data.