Bracing for a slowdown in work as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and calling on its staff to “face this situation together”, Norton Rose Fulbright is reducing pay and hours by up to 20 per cent for the majority of its 1000 lawyers and support staff in Australia.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has launched proceedings against investment firm Mayfair 101 Group and Mayfair Platinum accusing them of misleading advertising.
Noting the challenge of searching for documentary evidence while employees are working from home, a judge overseeing two consumer class actions against ANZ and Westpac has directed the banks to hand over only a limited number of documents to the applicants, and given them extra time to do it.
Police have launched a criminal investigation of the circumstances surrounding last month’s docking in Sydney of the Ruby Princess cruise ship, which is now linked to 11 deaths from COVID-19.
Treasury Wine Estates has said it will vigorously defend a shareholder class action filed this week over a recent earnings downgrade, one of two possible class actions the wine producer could be facing over the announcement.
A judge has approved a notice in a class action against Westpac alerting group members that an “expense sharing order” will be sought by the applicants if or when the case settles, the first ruling of its kind since the High Court struck down common fund orders.
Equity partners at MinterEllison have agreed to cut their draws by 50 per cent and permanent staff have been asked to purchase six weeks’ leave as part of measures to weather the COVID-19 crisis.
Activist short seller Bonitas Research must pay Rural Funds Management almost $900,000 after the US-based Bonitas was found to have engaged in misleading or decpetive conduct in issuing a report describing the agricultural fund manager’s equity as “ultimately worthless”.
The competition watchdog has signed off on the $16 billion acquisition of Carlton & United Breweries by Asahi after the Japanese beer giant offered to shed key beer and cider brands to seal the deal.
Ashurst has brought on former Deloitte senior partner Philip Hardy to help launch its consulting arm to compete with the big four firms, and the law firm says Hardy’s experience will be an asset as it manages the challenges of COVID-19 on clients’ businesses.