The litigation funder behind a scam to defraud members of a class action over the collapse of Banksia Securities has entered liquidation, and the funder’s two surviving directors will be among potential targets of attempts to recover money to pay a $21.7 million court judgment.
Last year brought economic growth and success for law firms, but 2021 was not only marked with good news. A slew of law firms were dragged into litigation by disgruntled ex-clients, with some paying out millions of dollars to resolve lawsuits accusing them of giving bad advice.
A Sydney-based barrister has been reprimanded for relying on his “gut feeling” in making baseless accusations of misconduct against the principal of a law firm.
The New South Wales Bar Association has lost an appeal seeking a financial penalty and a professional reprimand against a Sydney barrister for his “poorly judged, vulgar and inappropriate” behaviour, with an appeals court finding damage to his reputation and a hike in his insurance premium dwarfed any punishment it could dole out.
A Western Australian lawyer will face penalties and disciplinary action in the State Administrative Tribunal after nine professional misconduct findings were made against him, including a finding that he knowingly sought to mislead the Supreme Court.
A Federal Circuit Court judge has hit back at accusations he conducted “the grossest parody of a court hearing” when he unlawfully imprisoned a Queensland man for contempt of court, telling a trial “he is a human being [who] made a mistake”.
Spurred by the Banksia class action scandal, the federal government has implemented new regulations requiring litigation funders to manage conflicts of interest that arise when the lawyers acting on a class action have a “material financial interest” in the funder that’s running it.
Law firm Sparke Helmore acted negligently by failing to adequately advise a New South Wales property developer about extension of time notices that were needed to prevent two lucrative contracts from falling through, a judge has found.
Former Liberal power broker Marcus Bastiaan has told a court he will seek an injunction to prevent investigative journalist Nick McKenzie from “door-knocking and harassing” witnesses in a defamation lawsuit over an explosive 60 Minutes report.
A Queensland lawyer’s name has been removed from the local roll after eight weeks of “disgraceful, disturbing and dishonourable” conduct while unlawfully acting for a friend in an estate dispute.