Australia

Former attorney will be new Australian prime minister after Tony Abbott is ousted

Malcolm Turnbull, a former prominent lawyer and banker, will be the new Prime Minister of Australia after he successfully ousted the controversial Tony Abbott from power. The long-running struggle between Abbott and Turnbull culminated on Monday when the ruling Liberal Party chose Turnbull as its leader over Abbott by a…

Sep 14, 2015 1:10 PM CDT

Suspect is charged 30 years after fatal family-court-related attacks on judges, others

A former firefighter in his late 60s has been arrested and faces more than 30 charges, including murder, in a series of family-court-related attacks that terrorized the legal community in Sydney, Australia, between 1980 and 1985. Leonard John Warwick is accused of killing his brother-in-law, a judge, a judge’s wife…

Jul 29, 2015 12:10 PM CDT

Appeals court rebukes judge for breastfeeding ban on mom who got a tattoo, overturns order

An Australian judge is under fire for ordering a mother to stop breastfeeding her 11-month-old child because she got a tattoo. An appeals court on Friday unanimously overturned the order issued by Federal Circuit Judge Matthew Myers in the Newcastle case. The full family court also rebuked Myers for issuing…

Jun 22, 2015 1:35 PM CDT

Police: Man on stolen bulldozer smashed occupied house to smithereens, violating a protective order

The limited value of a court protective order against a determined individual was dramatically illustrated this week after authorities alleged that Jamie Francis Sager drove a stolen bulldozer through a home in Australia on Sunday morning, smashing it to smithereens. Three female occupants barely escaped with their lives because a…

Jun 9, 2015 3:50 PM CDT

Slater & Gordon makes $947M offer to acquire major UK personal injury law firm

Slater & Gordon, the world’s first publicly traded law firm, is poised to acquire most of a major United Kingdom competitor. Assuming that Quindell partners agree in an April 17 vote with the recommendation of their board of directors, Slater & Gordon is to pay 637 million pounds (about $947…

Mar 30, 2015 9:05 AM CDT

Lawyer and cafe manager killed in Sydney hostage siege hailed as heroes; why wasn’t suspect in jail?

A lawyer was killed early Tuesday after being held hostage along with 16 other people in a cafe in Sydney for most of the day Monday by a self-described Muslim cleric, and she is being hailed as a hero. However, as Prime Minister Tony Abbott paid tribute to barrister Katrina…

Dec 16, 2014 12:15 PM CST

Slater & Gordon offers law firm stock-purchase plan for UK workers

Publicly held law firm Slater & Gordon has announced a plan to encourage its workers in its United Kingdom offices to purchase stock in their employer’s company. Assuming the plan is approved by shareholders at an upcoming meeting, the law firm will match share purchases by attorneys and staff at…

Jul 11, 2014 3:15 PM CDT

‘Spansexual’ may register gender as nonspecific, Australia’s top court rules

A person who identifies as “spansexual”—neither man nor woman—may register a “nonspecific” gender on official certificates in New South Wales, Australia’s High Court ruled last week. The court ruled last week in the case of Australian resident Norrie May-Welby, 52, report the New York Times, the Daily Record and the…

Apr 7, 2014 1:21 PM CDT

Law firm chief executive lacked law degree

A former chief executive of an intellectual property law firm in New Zealand has admitted he never earned the law degree reportedly included on the curriculum vitae he submitted to apply for the position at Baldwins in 2011. However, Michael Vukcevic says he never meant to mislead anyone and has…

Feb 26, 2014 5:05 PM CST

Thalidomide plaintiffs agree to $80M settlement in Australian case; discovery continues in US

Decades after women were given Thalidomide to combat morning sickness during pregnancy in the 1950s and 1960s and wound up delivering babies with missing or deformed limbs and other birth defects, survivors are still seeking compensation. Litigation continues in the United States, the United Kingdom and Spain, but more than…

Dec 4, 2013 12:00 AM CST

Students fuming after law lecturer’s mistaken claim that exam cut by fire alarm would be rescheduled

First there was the mid-exam fire alarm that sent some 450 law students taking a closed-book corporations test to mill around outside for a half-hour or so Nov. 12. Then, after everyone returned to complete the exam and the clock was started again from scratch, a couple of Sydney University…

Nov 26, 2013 6:40 PM CST

Juror’s ‘total lack of manners’ could result in contempt finding, judge says

A judge has declared a mistrial and is considering holding a juror in contempt because her “total lack of manners” distracted others in the case. The unidentified woman rolled her eyes, stared at the ceiling and fiddled with her jewelry after she was selected to serve on a jury in…

Nov 5, 2013 7:20 PM CST

Motel-sex injury doesn’t merit workers’ compensation, Australian high court rules

A government worker injured during motel sex on a business trip is not entitled to workers’ compensation, Australia’s highest court has ruled. The High Court of Australia ruled the woman was not entitled to compensation because the injury did not occur in the course of employment. How Appealing links to…

Oct 30, 2013 4:09 PM CDT

Seyfarth Shaw opens 2 offices in Australia

Seyfarth Shaw has recruited eight partners from three different law firms to open two new offices in Australia. The offices, which are in Sydney and Melbourne, are part of a global strategy to offer major corporate clients a one-stop shop for dealing with international labor and employment matters, Reuters reports.…

Jun 12, 2013 6:50 PM CDT

Australia’s publicly traded Slater & Gordon raising $64M to buy more UK personal injury firms

In its continuing drive to dominate the global personal injury and consumer legal market, Slater & Gordon is raising $63.9 million to expand its British personal injury practice. The plaintiff megafirm has struck deals to buy three United Kingdom law firms at a total cost of about $35 million, according…

May 7, 2013 6:15 PM CDT