A national law firm made $3 million in unauthorised payments from a client’s trust account and derailed a $24.3 million land development opportunity, according to a new lawsuit.
National law firm Mills Oakley has launched a new charity aimed at giving free legal advice to the Australian “missing middle” who earn too much to be eligible for Legal Aid services but who do not have enough income to hire a private lawyer.
While there was no shortage of pain and challenges for law firms as the coronavirus raged across the globe last year, a number of big firms also felt the sting of litigation from disgruntled clients, partners and employees.
Brisbane-based law firm Tucker Cowen and three of its principals are facing an unfair dismissal case by a former special counsel who exited the firm earlier this year.
Stepping into his role just as COVID-19 began its rapid spread across the globe, Herbert Smith Freehills’ recently appointed CEO Justin D’Agostino faced what he called a “baptism of fire”.
When it comes to briefing barristers, solicitors lie on a spectrum of awesome to irksome. In a series of interviews with Lawyerly, some of Australia’s top counsel reveal what they like and what they don’t like about their instructing lawyers.
Restrictions to combat COVID-19 that forced Australia’s courts to go virtual have had unforseen benefits, and Australia’s top law firms say they don’t want online hearings to be scrapped when social distancing measures are eased.
The reopening of law firm offices in Melbourne and Sydney may still be months away but firms have given Lawyerly a glimpse of what it might look like when staff do return to the office, from split workforces to strictly enforced health and safety rules. One thing is for sure, COVID-19 has changed the way lawyers will work from now on.
A judge has given Sydney businessman Charif Kazal a third and final opportunity to replead his “simply incomprehensible” case against Gilbert + Tobin over the law firm’s involvement in a business dispute concerning a lucrative waste facility, despite saying it took “an entire week to understand the arcane obscurities” of the pleading.
One of the top Australian executives of Herbert Smith Freehills has advocated for a UK-style quartile pay transparency system Down Under, calling on law firms to air their “dirty laundry” when it comes to the gender pay gap.