LAW FIRMS – AUSTRALIA

Law firms consider listing

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Original article by Luke Malpass
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 33 : 30-Jan-15

Shares in IPH Limited have peaked at $A3.80 since debuting on the Australian sharemarket at $A2.10 in November 2014. IPH is the holding company for law firm Spruson & Ferguson, and its success has prompted other intellectual property and patent law firms to consider IPOs. Graham Cowin, the managing partner of Phillips Ormonde Fitzpatrick, says the firm is looking at a range of options, while Griffith Hack chairman David Hughes says his firm has ruled out in IPO at this stage

CORPORATES
IPH LIMITED – ASX IPH, SPRUSON AND FERGUSON LAWYERS, PHILLIPS ORMONDE AND FITZPATRICK, GRIFFITH HACK LAWYERS PTY LTD, DAVIES COLLISON CAVE, MORNINGSTAR PTY LTD

Class actions: firms warned

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Original article by Marianna Papadakis
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 23-Jan-15

The Australian class actions market is likely to grow. Herbert Smith Freehills partner Jason Betts says the profitability of the funding model makes the sector attractive to foreign litigation funders. Andrew Watson, the head of class actions at Maurice Blackburn, expects more such suits on behalf of investors

CORPORATES
IMF BENTHAM LIMITED – ASX IMF, AUSNET SERVICES LIMITED – ASX AST, LITIGATION FUNDING PARTNERS, HERBERT SMITH FREEHILLS PTY LTD, ALLCO FINANCE GROUP LIMITED, MAURICE BLACKBURN PTY LTD, KING AND WOOD MALLESONS, HARBOUR LITIGATION FUNDING LIMITED, COMPREHENSIVE LEGAL FUNDING LLC, AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION

Commonwealth legal services spending rises

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Original article by Nicola Berkovic
The Australian – Page: 23 : 16-Jan-15

New figures show that the Australian Government’s expenditure on legal services increased by around $A6m in 2013-14, to $A688.6m. There was a $A10m blowout in the cost of the Government’s in-house legal teams during the financial year, although there was a slight decline in the amount paid to private law firms. Clayton Utz accounted for about 11 per cent of the government legal work that was outsourced to private firms

CORPORATES
CLAYTON UTZ, ASHURST AUSTRALIA, DLA PIPER, MINTER ELLISON, SPARKE HELMORE, NORTON ROSE FULBRIGHT AUSTRALIA, CORRS CHAMBERS WESTGARTH, MADDOCKS LAWYERS, KING AND WOOD MALLESONS, AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT SOLICITOR, AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT

Surge in M&A work boosts the big firms

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Original article by Chris Merritt
The Australian – Page: 27 : 17-Oct-14

Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Beaton Research + Consulting have issued their "Market Pulse" legal profession confidence survey for the September 2014 quarter. The figures show that the ratio of major law firms reporting negative conditions has fallen to just 17% from 70% a year ago. The main reason is the recent turnaround in the market for merger and acquisition deals work, with 56% also forecasting further gains in this segment over the period to March 2015. Another growth area is insurance, and this is borne out as well by the new law firm rankings released by Thomson Reuters

CORPORATES
BEATON RESEARCH AND CONSULTING PTY LTD, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, THOMSON REUTERS PLC

ATO sights on partners with guide to income-splitting rights and wrongs

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Original article by Katherine Towers
The Australian – Page: 31 : 5-Sep-14

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has issued a new guidance note on the practice of splitting income from a discretionary trust. The structure is becoming increasingly popular among professionals such as law firm partners, after the deregulation of the legal services market. While conceding that the method is "legally permissible", the ATO says it will monitor whether risk reviews and audits may be required

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, KING AND WOOD MALLESONS

CBA enlists heavyweights for compo panel

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Original article by Adam Creighton
The Australian – Page: 16 : 25-Aug-14

Following a scandal over improper advice by its financial planning arm, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has formed an Independent Review Panel for the Open Advice Review Program meant to compensate affected customers. Some 400,000 clients of Commonwealth Financial Planning and Financial Wisdom from 2003 to 2012 will benefit. CBA has sought the services of a number of class action law firms on the issue, appointed ex- judges Geoffrey ­Davies and Julie Dodds-Streeton to the panel, and recruited US-based Promontory Financial Group to monitor internal processes at the bank

CORPORATES
COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, COMMONWEALTH FINANCIAL PLANNING LIMITED, FINANCIAL WISDOM LIMITED, HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA, McGRATH NICOL AND PARTNERS SERVICES PTY LTD, COURT OF APPEAL (QUEENSLAND), SUPREME COURT OF VICTORIA, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, LAW COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, PROMONTORY FINANCIAL GROUP LLC, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, MACQUARIE PRIVATE WEALTH MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, QUEENSLAND. PUBLIC HOSPITALS COMMISSION OF INQUIRY, QUEENSLAND. LITIGATION REFORM COMMISSION

Ruling may incite more class actions

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Original article by Marianna Papadakis,Hannah Low
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 11 : 21-Aug-14

Canada-based ­International Litigation Funding ­Partners (ILFP) is bankrolling a stockholder class action suit against Allco Finance Group. The Federal Court of Australia will on 21 August 2014 rule on whether ILFP can claim between 22.5% and 35% of any payout under the "common fund" method that covers all plaintiffs, even those who have not specifically agreed to be part of the funding arrangement. The decision will have an impact on other current class actions, involving major banks and telcos

CORPORATES
INTERNATIONAL LITIGATION FUNDING PARTNERS INCORPORATED,ALLCO FINANCE GROUP LIMITED,FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA,BENTHAM IMF LIMITED – ASX IMF,KPMG AUSTRALIA PTY LTD,MAURICE BLACKBURN PTY LTD,CLAIMS FUNDING AUSTRALIA PTY LTD,CLAIMS FUNDING EUROPE,NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB,SUPREME COURT OF VICTORIA,MODTECH ENGINEERING PTY LTD,GPT MANAGEMENT LIMITED,UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES,KING AND WOOD MALLESONS,AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ,CITIBANK PTY LTD,WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC,AUSTRALIAN COMMUNICATIONS CONSUMER ACTION NETWORK LIMITED,TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS,SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD,SINGAPORE TELECOMMUNICATIONS LIMITED – ASX SGT,VODAFONE HUTCHISON AUSTRALIA PTY LTD,HARBOUR LITIGATION FUNDING LIMITED

Law of returns as Slater & Gordon hits $61m

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Original article by Chris Merritt
The Australian – Page: 21 : 13-Aug-14

Slater & Gordon has announced a 2013-14 full-year net profit increase of 47.2% to $A61.1m, on revenue that also rose 40.4% to reach $A418.5m. The 12-month distribution has been lifted 21.2%, with the final dividend up 29.9% to $A0.05 fully-franked. MD Andrew Grech says the Australian-listed law firm is seeing a strong contribution by the recently acquired UK businesses. It will also buy Nowicki Carbone and Schultz Toomey O’Brien in Victoria and Queensland respectively, later in 2014

CORPORATES
SLATER AND GORDON LIMITED – ASX SGH, NOWICKI CARBONE AND COMPANY, SCHULTZ TOOMEY O’BRIEN LAWYERS, TRILBY MISSO LAWYERS LIMITED

Top firms see better times on the horizon

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Original article by Chris Merritt
The Australian – Page: 27-28 : 18-Jul-14

Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Beaton Research + Consulting have issued their latest survey of business confidence among the leading commercial law firms. It covers the second quarter of calendar 2014, and 31 firms with total revenue of $A3.6bn per annum. Among the findings are that the net ratio of firms seeing conditions as negative has fallen to 23% from 28%, but that among top-tier providers the drop has been from 50% to just 14%. Out of 15 practice areas looked at by the research, an improvement is forecast for 13

CORPORATES
COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, BEATON RESEARCH AND CONSULTING PTY LTD

Finance, unis big winners

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Original article by Jacob Greber, Fleur Anderson, Greg Earl, Matthew Cranston
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 9-Jul-14

A new economic partnership agreement (EPA) has been struck between Australia and Japan. Apart from the automobile and agricultural sectors in Japan and Australia respectively, the main winners will be sections of the Australian services industry. The Japanese Government will open this area to Australian educational, legal and financial services providers. Business leader Sir Rod Eddington has welcomed the focus on services. He also warned that investment by Japanese parties will require a stable political and regulatory environment in Australia, but dismissed fears the deal may harm the relationship with China

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN SERVICES ROUNDTABLE, WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, INFRASTRUCTURE AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, FINANCIAL SERVICES COUNCIL