Attend this timely fundamental 2-hour webinar on class actions. Proposed reforms to wind back restrictions to litigation funding schemes may impact the number of class actions in Australia. You’ll learn where new types of class actions are emerging and potential areas of risks. Finally, our highly experienced panel of Plaintiff and Defendant’s lawyers will show you how to avoid common procedural traps for young players from commencement of proceedings through to trial. 

Presenters

Odette McDonald, Director, Phi Finney McDonald
Odette McDonald is an experienced senior class actions specialist, who has litigated complex and high-profile claims in Australia and the United Kingdom. Odette has represented thousands of people in a number of successful class actions, which have collectively delivered settlements in excess of $350 million. Her class action, group litigation and multi-party litigation expertise is broad, and includes shareholder class actions, financial advice and product claims, personal injuries, consumer actions, environmental and natural disaster litigation, and debenture trustee class actions. She also has a wealth of general commercial litigation and pro bono experience. Prior to co-founding Phi Finney McDonald, Odette was a Practice Group Leader in the London Group Litigation and Melbourne Class Actions departments of a large plaintiff law firm. Odette’s focus at Phi Finney McDonald is on identifying cases, managing litigation projects, progressing the professional development of lawyers and support staff, and contributing to the creation of a dynamic and supportive workplace.


Travis Luk, Special Counsel, Clyde & Co
Travis specialises in directors and officers liability, professional indemnity, financial institutions claims and regulatory investigations and complex general and product liability litigation acting in a number of well-known class action proceedings in these areas. Travis’ focus is on understanding the client’s business to tailor effective solutions and strategies to complex claims and insurance disputes with a strong commercial focus. He has protected insurer’s interests in some of Australia’s largest and well known securities, product liability and general liability class actions in both a coverage and defence capacity. Recently, he has acted for insurers of one of Australia’s leading superannuation and financial services providers facing 4 separate class action proceedings arising from the banking Royal Commission and another large financial services entity in the ‘junk insurance’ class actions. He has also acted in defence of class action proceedings against a construction contractor involved in the Sydney Light Rail project and another against a large retail budget services provider. He regularly advises clients in complex litigated and coverage disputes including advising insurers on risk in the wide-spread Crime & Corruption investigation against several Queensland local councils/Councillors, the Irish cervical screening screening scandal and the Manus Island and Nauru detainee litigation. Travis is recognised as a recommended lawyer in Insurance by Legal 500 and is a committee member of the Australian Insurance Law Association.


John Moran, Partner, Clyde & Co
John specialises in D&O, professional indemnity and financial lines and has developed a market leading cyber incident response practice, one of the firm's largest and most innovative projects around the globe. He also co-leads the firm's global cyber practice. John is a recognised expert in the local Australian and London insurance markets and is currently acting in defence, advisory and monitoring counsel roles in some of Australia's most prominent securities and D&O class action litigation. Over the past 12 months, John has been acting in some of the market’s biggest financial lines and D&O matters, and for insurers in a number of class actions resulting from the Financial Services Royal Commission. Having built a reputation as the ‘go-to’ for corporates who face cyber crises, John routinely assists organisations with cyber incident readiness and resilience exercises including incident response planning and tabletop training, as well as in relation to regulatory investigations, class actions, third party claims and recovery proceedings following incidents. John and his team have advised on more than 4,000 cyber incidents across all sectors globally, including some of the most high-profile and complex investigations, many of which have attracted considerable media attention.


Jacques Jacobs, Partner, Clyde & Co
Jacques advises local and overseas insurers on complex disputes and coverage issues. He has extensive expertise in financial lines claims with a particular focus on directors & officers, professional indemnity, management liability, cyber and warranty & indemnity claims. Jacques acts as defence counsel for company directors and financial professionals, such as accountants, auditors, stockbrokers and financial planners. His experience ranges from managing large multi-party litigation to regulatory and disciplinary hearings. He has acted in various class actions, including as defence and coverage counsel. Jacques advises clients on emerging risks, including with a focus around ESG. Jacques is listed by Legal 500 as a Next Generation Partner in Insurance and by Doyle’s Guide as a Leading Professional Indemnity Lawyer. He is also recognised by Best Lawyers Australia for Insurance Law


Jonathan Wertheim, Special Counsel, Shine Lawyers
Jonathan is a seasoned litigator with over 15 years of experience in complex commercial disputes and class actions. He has a particular focus on securities class actions and has been involved in running some of the most high-profile matters in Australia, including two securities claims that have progressed to initial trials and one that has been the subject of appellate decisions following the first instance judgment. Jonathan also has experience managing multiplicity disputes and is currently working in co-operation with other major firms on a number of consolidated class actions in the Federal Court of Australia and the Supreme Court of Victoria.


Jason Betts, Partner, Global Co-Head of Class Actions, Herbert Smith Freehills
Jason is widely regarded as one of Australia’s leading class action, regulatory investigation and product liability specialists. He has over 25 years’ of litigation experience and has defended the largest class actions and investigations in the Australian market. He is the only Australian defence lawyer to have run a class action to final trial and judgment, and is the only Australian lawyer to win three shareholder class actions at trial (on behalf of Worley, Iluka and CBA). Jason also led the defence of two of Australia’s largest ever product liability class action cases, and acted for the defendant in the seminal Australian decision on third party litigation funding in Australia – Campbells Cash and Carry Pty Ltd v Fostif Pty Ltd. Jason is a Visitor to the University of Sydney Law School, teaching the post-graduate course “Class Action Litigation in Australia”. In 2022 Jason co-authored the third edition of the leading class actions text book in the country, “Class Actions in Australia”. He obtained his Master of Laws from the University of Virginia, specialising in class action defence theory.


Jenny Campbell, Partner, Allens
Jenny specialises in managing commercial disputes, with a particular focus on defending class actions. Her experience includes the defence of shareholder class actions against Aristocrat, CIMIC and QBE Insurance Group; the Takata airbags class action for Nissan; the FX cartel class action for Citibank; various financial products / services class actions against the NAB, Westpac, CBA and The Royal Bank of Scotland; the business interruption insurance class action against QBE. She also advises on foreshadowed class actions and class action risk more generally, and writes and presents extensively on class actions issues.