Cattle ‘baron’ wife implicated in insolvent trading collapse
The wife of failed cattle baron Sam Mitchell has become embroiled in the mire of the multimillion-dollar financial collapse, exposing her to the potential of legal sanctions.
Legal Affairs
Auditor raised red flags over Star future
Star Entertainment’s auditor raised several red flags last year about the ability of the company’s debt-laden Queensland operation to continue as a going concern.
Westpac exec sues bank amid ‘troublemaker’ claims
Westpac is facing court action from its head of audit and risk, who has alleged she was bullied for blowing the whistle on possible financial crime.
APRA sues CFMEU boss after contract investigation
The financial watchdog is taking Michael O’Connor to court amid a bid to kick him off the board of industry fund First Super.
ANZ fails to stop court discovery of conduct documents
ANZ’s lawyers are warning court action against the bank, and the discovery of key documents, risks a ‘roving commission’ into the lender’s conduct.
Government must play by the rules in mining
Ministers must take relevant considerations into account – and ignore irrelevant factors – when making their decisions, and courts can intervene if they don’t.
ASIC scores court win with Deloitte to administer Keystone
The corporate regulator has come out on top in a court stoush over who should be appointed administrators to a private investment fund linked with Melbourne developer Paul Chiodo.
EDO ‘offered to pay Santos costs in bid to end LNG case’
The Environmental Defenders Office offered to pay Santos’s costs from its failed legal block on the Barossa LNG development, it has emerged.
Appliance lender smacked in court for ‘sham’ gift leases
Rent4Keeps was repeatedly warned over its attempts to represent credit contracts as ‘leases’ which saw goods gifted at the end of their term.
Fifteen rape cases discontinued during DPP’s audit
The cases, which were committed to trial, have been discontinued as part of the audit launched by chief prosecutor Sally Dowling after five judges criticised her office for prosecuting meritless rape cases.
Venture fund accused of ‘obstruction’
A co-founder of medtech company Seer Medical has lodged a second legal claim alleging Breakthrough Victoria of effectively sinking the value of his shares.
Partners jump ship as legal firms target talent
More than 220 partners switched allegiances over the past financial year and the trend looks set to continue as legal firms pursue a more targeted and focused approach to hiring.
Law firms oppose back-to-the-office push
Australian law firms firmly oppose mandatory full-time office policies, with many saying they ‘trust’ their employees to manage work responsibly.
AI ‘not a threat to graduate jobs’
Graduates will drive law firms’ adoption of artificial intelligence, top legal minds say.
Law firms say ‘yes’ to their staff’s right to disconnect
Weekend emails, long hours and desk-lunches have long been commonplace for Australia’s lawyers. But many firms are adamant new right to disconnect laws will have no effect on operations.
Best Australian law firm perks revealed
No-cost cafes, free gym memberships and $1000 ‘thank you’ bonuses. Here’s what some of Australia’s top law firms have on offer to attract and retain quality talent.
Is this becoming the most lucrative job in law?
Firms across the country are hiring these lawyers in record numbers, and paying high sums for top quality talent.
State of the market: survival of biggest in turbulent times
They say there is safety in numbers and bigger is better, and that seems to be the mantra for law firms in the past financial year.
Want to be busy? Look at cyber, IR and energy
Unprecedented demand for cybersecurity, workplace and energy lawyers has defined the Australian legal market over the past year, while corporate work creeps back to pre-pandemic levels.
Top lawyers win case for pay rises
Top-tier lawyers have won considerable pay hikes over the past year, with graduates seeing the most impressive boost, according to The Australian’s 2024 Legal Partnership Survey.
ASIC hopeful more funding lifts ‘weakest link’ CDPP
Regulators are hoping new leadership and more funding will see white collar criminals held to account, amid despair over the Commonwealth Department of Public Prosecutions’ track record.
‘Fewer white males, and more women’
Australia’s legal market has seen an unprecedented lift in female lawyers joining partnerships over the past 12 months. | SEE HOW YOUR FIRM COMPARES
Mastermind behind $180m Ponzi scheme jailed for seven years
The mastermind behind a $180m Ponzi scheme has been jailed for at least seven years – after surviving a kidnapping attempt, breaking up families and delaying victims’ retirements.
‘Shareholder oppression’: former coal baron takes on Whitehaven in court
Years after the case was first launched, former mining baron Nathan Tinkler has broken his silence with an exclusive interview in The Australian. READ THE LATEST IN THE COURT CASE.
All bets are off: Bell’s Star hunt misses the mark
The lack of hard facts means the ‘Bell II’ inquiry increasingly looks like nothing more than a vanity exercise.
Likely insolvent Keystone ‘brought in administrator over receiver’
The tussle over private investment fund Keystone and a former director’s spending habits has taken a twist after it emerged an ASIC court win appears to have been trumped by the company.
NAAJA board in mass resignation, chair stands down
The head of Australia’s largest Aboriginal legal service, who stood on his pregnant partner’s stomach and slammed her arm in a door, will step down from his role as four other directors leave.
Sovereign Indigenous nations ‘is an Australian myth’
Will the cognoscenti in the law and elsewhere face the facts about Indigenous Australia or will they continue to pay homage to a bucolic past that never really existed?
Under fire: super funds going for class action profits
Australia’s largest super funds are investing millions of dollars in both litigation funders and companies they are targeting in court, amid calls for a crackdown on ‘vulture’ firms reaping huge profits from the government’s ‘light-touch’ to class actions.
Victorian govt’s venture capital fund fight heats up
A court fight involving the Victorian government’s venture capital fund, a medtech start-up and its founder is heating up with Seer Medical’s co-founder being blamed for the company’s ‘severe financial difficulties’.
Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/legal-affairs/page/15