Craig Hill
KC Hill
Paladin
Oracle of DelphiTen Major Developments In Commercial Litigation In 2008
January 11th 2009 12:11
Economic conditions, court decisions, and a new Federal Government all will generate changes during 2009. The following are the top ten developments according to Clayton Utz Solicitors.
1. Economic downturn triggers a rise in litigation
As the economy slowed in 2008, litigation departments became increasingly busy. Demand for litigation has traditionally been counter-cyclical...
2. The rise and rise of litigation funding
2008 was a bumper year for litigation funders. The Aristocrat class action was settled for a record $145 million ...
3. Last year of the Gleeson-led High Court
August 29 marked the end of the Gleeson era, as the 11th Chief Justice of the High Court reached the constitutional retirement age. The Gleeson court will be fondly remembered by the business community. Gleeson promoted consensus on the bench ...
4. Sub-prime litigation
The fallout from the sub-prime crisis triggered an explosion of litigation in the USA in 2008. We saw a similar spike in litigation after the dot com bust in 2000...
5. Spotlight on the cost of litigation
How to keep litigation costs under control was again a key issue in 2008. In the shadow of the C7 appeal, various proposals were mooted to discourage mega-litigation including abolishing the tax deductibility of legal costs...
6. A new government
Faced with a severe financial crisis in its first full year on the job, the Rudd government resisted the temptation to over regulate. It will however, be interesting to see what flows from the government's review of credit ratings agencies and its survey of company directors...
7. Push for an action for invasion of privacy gathers pace
The debate about personal privacy was brought to a head in 2008, with the Australian Law Reform Commission recommending the introduction of a statutory cause of action for a serious invasion of privacy....
8. Protecting privilege
The protection of client legal privilege was the sleeper issue of 2008. Since the decision in the Federal Court case of Rich v Harrington was handed down at the end of last year, claims for privilege over communications with in-house lawyers are being far more closely scrutinised by the courts....
9. Criminalising cartels
The headline issue in trade practices law in 2008 was the release of draft laws to criminalise serious cartel conduct...
10. An emboldened regulator?
After enduring accusations over the years of being too conservative in its approach to prosecuting corporate misfeasance, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission took the bold move of launching a $200 million action against KPMG over its auditing of various Westpoint entities...
1. Economic downturn triggers a rise in litigation
As the economy slowed in 2008, litigation departments became increasingly busy. Demand for litigation has traditionally been counter-cyclical...
2. The rise and rise of litigation funding
2008 was a bumper year for litigation funders. The Aristocrat class action was settled for a record $145 million ...
3. Last year of the Gleeson-led High Court
August 29 marked the end of the Gleeson era, as the 11th Chief Justice of the High Court reached the constitutional retirement age. The Gleeson court will be fondly remembered by the business community. Gleeson promoted consensus on the bench ...
4. Sub-prime litigation
The fallout from the sub-prime crisis triggered an explosion of litigation in the USA in 2008. We saw a similar spike in litigation after the dot com bust in 2000...
5. Spotlight on the cost of litigation
How to keep litigation costs under control was again a key issue in 2008. In the shadow of the C7 appeal, various proposals were mooted to discourage mega-litigation including abolishing the tax deductibility of legal costs...
6. A new government
Faced with a severe financial crisis in its first full year on the job, the Rudd government resisted the temptation to over regulate. It will however, be interesting to see what flows from the government's review of credit ratings agencies and its survey of company directors...
7. Push for an action for invasion of privacy gathers pace
The debate about personal privacy was brought to a head in 2008, with the Australian Law Reform Commission recommending the introduction of a statutory cause of action for a serious invasion of privacy....
8. Protecting privilege
The protection of client legal privilege was the sleeper issue of 2008. Since the decision in the Federal Court case of Rich v Harrington was handed down at the end of last year, claims for privilege over communications with in-house lawyers are being far more closely scrutinised by the courts....
9. Criminalising cartels
The headline issue in trade practices law in 2008 was the release of draft laws to criminalise serious cartel conduct...
10. An emboldened regulator?
After enduring accusations over the years of being too conservative in its approach to prosecuting corporate misfeasance, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission took the bold move of launching a $200 million action against KPMG over its auditing of various Westpoint entities...
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Comment by Concerned Objective Observer
An English insurance company, The Judge, 'willl insure a client's liability to pay the opponent's fees in the litigation "if the case were to lose". [Curious wording] as well as disbursements such as counsel's fees and the client's own costs.
What constraint will remain to litigants if they can, by paying a premium, insulate themselves from the policy constraints of the usual orders as to costs?
My interest is in promoting commercial settlements clients can live with and I have a lot to say about it at Really Long Link
I am not convinced that litigation funding or insurance will encourage litigants to take an early commercial view of their dispute.