As the COVID-19 crisis leaves tens of thousands unemployed and charities struggling, law firms are responding by offering assistance to those in need through expanded pro bono work and community outreach programs that provide assistance to the country’s most vulnerable people.
As states across Australia shut down non-essential services and close borders in the battle to control the spread of the coronavirus, companies are turning to their lawyers for guidance on everything from contracts to disclosure obligations, staff reductions to workplace health and safety issues. Lawyerly talked to practitioners to find out what was on the minds of their corporate clients.
National Australia Bank and HSBC, which are suing the liquidators of collapsed retailer Dick Smith to recoup over $125 million in loans, have successfully fought off a bid by two former company directors for a series of financial reports.
A former manager of Australian electronics automotive developer Directed Electronics OE has failed to block access to certain documents in a corporate theft case, despite the Federal Court finding they gave rise to a “real and appreciable risk” of civil or criminal prosecution against him.
A Sydney-based financial advisory firm has been hit with a class action by a group of Chinese investors over a property investment and visa scheme that allegedly saw group members lose $14.5 million in funds.
Multiplex is calling for the liquidators of collapsed engineering services group Hastie to pay its costs, and pay now, for pursuing an action to recover millions of dollars in unpaid bills on the grounds that the construction company was not entitled to offset its debts with amounts owing.
A bid to join Shine Lawyers and barrister David Turner to a negligence suit against an Australian law firm retained to assist with a $630,000 contractual dispute has been dismissed after a judge found it was “not just, desirable or convenient” to drag the two parties into the dispute.
The sole director and shareholder of OE Solutions can challenge a ruling ordering him to hand over seized documents to Australian automotive electronics developer Directed Electronics OE, with the Full Federal Court declining to adopt US precedent that carves out an exception to the privilege against self-incrimination for corporate custodians.
Clothing manufacturer IFOTA has been ordered to open its books to shareholder Simba after it raised concerns about IFOTA’s management and financial position.
A judge has partly sided with a former Mills Oakley client in his challenge to a costs ruling in a saga over $25,000 in unpaid fees, saying the law firm’s arrangement with a debt management company that kept the client in the dark about the consequences of default was “regrettable”.