The IMF Bentham Class Actions Research Initiative (CARI) at UNSW Law held its first conference on 1 June 2017. The conference theme was “Resolving Class Actions Effectively and Fairly”.
The keynote speaker was Justice Michael Lee of the Federal Court of Australia who provided observations on the court’s power to vary litigation funding agreements as part of class action settlements. You can read his speech here.
Maurice Blackburn Principal Rebecca Gilsenan and UNSW Law Associate Professor Michael Legg presented a detailed report on the range of options for designing class action settlement distribution schemes. The research was reported on in the Australian Financial Review which described it as “the first of its kind”. The report is available from the CARI website.
The class action concluded with a panel discussion on achieving finality to class action litigation. The panel was chaired by Wayne Attrill, IMF Bentham Ltd and included Justice Jack Forrest, Supreme Court of Victoria, Professor Simone Degeling, UNSW Law, Bill Petrovski, William Roberts Lawyers, Jason Betts, Herbert Smith Freehills and Brett Jordan, AIG Australia.
Closing remarks on the issues raised by the conference were delivered by Clive Bowman, IMF Bentham Ltd.
A more detailed summary of the event will be posted to the IMF and CARI websites shortly.
