Legal Finance and the View From the CASL CASL

The legal finance industry is interesting, diverse and constantly changing.  We will speak each week to people involved in the legal finance industry to provide you with tips and tricks to accessing, obtaining and using legal finance.

In this episode, we speak with Bill Petrovski of William Roberts Lawyers about the regulation of litigation funding schemes as managed investment schemes and as requiring an AFSL.

CASL was one of the first funders to secure an AFSL and has now been granted new authorisation by ASIC to its AFS licence for litigation funding schemes that are not managed investment schemes, a change that was necessary after the recent Stanwell decision. CASL is pleased to have been at the forefront of this changing regulation.

The legal finance industry is interesting, diverse and constantly changing.  We will speak each week to people involved in the legal finance industry to provide you with tips and tricks to accessing, obtaining and using legal finance.

In this episode, we are excited to speak with Simon Bellas of Jones Day and Craig Shepard and Ted Fitzgerald of Korda Mentha about the rise of insolvencies in the construction industry.

The CASL team have seen a definite rise in the number of insolvency matters that are being brought to us for funding in the last few months, including insolvencies in the construction industry. Off the back of these enquiries, we asked Simon, Craig and Ted to join us to tell us what they believe is causing this increase in construction insolvencies. The overall sentiment from this lively and informative discussion was that there are going to be more insolvencies with the construction industry high on the ATO’s list of target industries.

The legal finance industry is interesting, diverse and constantly changing.  We will speak each week to people involved in the legal finance industry to provide you with tips and tricks to accessing, obtaining and using legal finance.

In this sixth episode, we are excited to speak with Jonathon Hunyor, the CEO of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, a social justice law and policy centre based in Sydney. 

Jonathon is an experienced lawyer, manager, strategic thinker and leader of diverse teams. He has practised law for 25 years in NSW and the Northern Territory, in areas including criminal law, discrimination and human rights, migration, refugee law and Aboriginal land rights.

Prior to joining PIAC in 2016, Jonathon was the Principal Legal Officer at the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency in Darwin; Director of Legal Services at the Australian Human Rights Commission; and worked as a lawyer at the Central Land Council in Alice Springs and the NT Legal Aid Commission in Darwin.

Jonathon is a Director of the Australian Pro Bono Centre, has taught discrimination law at the University of NSW and has published widely in academic and professional journals.

Jonathon has kindly agreed to join us today to talk all things PIAC.

The legal finance industry is interesting, diverse and constantly changing.  We will speak each week to people involved in the legal finance industry to provide you with tips and tricks to accessing, obtaining and using legal finance.

In this fifth episode, we are excited to speak with Felicity Karageorge, a Senior Associate with Johnson Winter & Slattery, one of Australia's leading independent law firms. Felicity is a specialist in class action claims and large-scale commercial litigation, acting for plaintiffs and defendants in some of Australia’s most significant and high-stakes disputes.

Felicity was named as a Key Lawyer in dispute resolution in the Legal 500, as the only Senior Associate named for the firm. She was a finalist for Senior Associate of the Year at the Lawyers Weekly Women in Law Awards 2021 and named as a Lawyerly Litigation Rising Star for 2021. She also received an Excellence Award, Young Private Practice Lawyer of the Year at the Australasian Law Awards 2020 and was a finalist for the Litigation and Dispute Resolution category at the Lawyers Weekly 30 Under 30 Awards. Prior to joining Johnson Winter & Slattery, Felicity completed an LLB (Honours) and a Bachelor of Commerce (majoring in Economics and Finance) at the University of Notre Dame Australia.

Felicity has kindly agreed to join us for a part 1 and part 2 discussion about the recent cases surrounding mining giant, Arrium. Today, for part 1 of our discussion we are going to talk about the recent High Court case of Walton v ACN 004 410 833 (formerly Arrium Limited) (In Liquidation) which allowed an appeal from, the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, overturning the NSW Court of Appeal’s decision to set aside an examination summons. In part 2 of our discussion which will be the subject of a separate podcast, we will discuss the recent class action claim against Arrium involving the issue of a group costs order.

The legal finance industry is interesting, diverse and constantly changing.  We will speak each week to people involved in the legal finance industry to provide you with tips and tricks to accessing, obtaining and using legal finance.

In this fourth episode, we are excited to talk with Lara Douvartzidis, a rising talent at Johnson Winter & Slattery, one of Australia's leading independent law firms.  Lara began working as an Associate in the Sydney office of JWS in 2019, having clerked in 2017.  Lara has a passion for, and focus on, pro bono matters, commercial litigation, environment and planning law, class actions, and modern slavery law obligations.  Lara assisted in expanding the firm's pro bono practice as a pro bono coordinator, transitioning to secondee at the Public Interest Advocacy Centre in August 2021.  

In today's episode, Lara provides an insightful summary of the recent case of the Minister for the Environment v Sharma [2022] FCAFC 35 and what trends we may see in Australia in relation to further climate-related litigation.

The legal finance industry is interesting, diverse and constantly changing.  We will speak each week to people involved in the legal finance industry to provide you with tips and tricks to accessing, obtaining and using legal finance.

In this third episode, we are excited to talk with Kim May and Lisa Brentnall, Senior Investment Managers with CASL, about the 101 of legal finance, including what is legal finance, when you might use legal finance, how to access it and what happens when a funded matter concludes.