He has particular experience in class actions and similar complex litigation. He has advised or appeared in more than 100 class actions or multi-plaintiff proceedings, in most Australian jurisdictions and covering a very wide range of practice areas. The most prominent of the class or grouped actions in which he has been centrally involved include:

• as shareholder actions –
  • for claimants – GIO, Aristocrat, Centro, Sigma, GPT, SurfStitch, Caason, Hastie Auditors, WorleyParsons and Iluka class actions
  • for defendants – Harris Scarfe and Nufarm class actions
• other investor litigation (including managed investment schemes) –
  • Opes Prime (2007)
  • Lehman Brothers (2012)
  • Willmott Forests (2015)
• cartel actions –
  • Vitamins class action (Darwalla v. F Hoffman-LaRoche)
  • Amcor/Visy (cardboard box cartel)
  • Air Cargo
• mass tort proceedings (class actions) –
  • the five Victorian “2009 Black Saturday Bushfire class actions” including the “Matthews v SPI – Kilmore Bushfire” class action (Victorian Supreme Court, 2010-2014)
  • Victorian “Abalone Virus” class action
  • Gladstone Port fisheries-contamination class action (Queensland Supreme Court)
  • NT Stolen Generation class action (NSW Supreme Court, 2021)
• mass tort (multi-plaintiff proceedings) –
  • WA – Parkerville bushfire (trial judgment reported as Herridge v. Electricity Networks Corporation (No.4) [2019] WASC 94)
  • Victoria – Garvoc and Terang bushfires
  • NSW – Tathra (NSW) bushfire
  • Tasmania – Forcett/Dunalley bushfire (trial judgment reported as Prestage v. Barrett [2021] TASSC 27)
• advising and appearing for litigation funders in common fund or similar applications –
  • Peterson v. Bank of Queensland (FCA 2018)
  • Pearson v. Queensland (Queensland “Stolen Wages”) (FCA 2019)
  • Uren v. RMBL Investments (FCA 2020)
  • Evans v. Davantage Group (No.3) (FCA 2021)

Outside class actions, Lachlan has extensive experience in:

• liquidation-related proceedings, including the “APCH” liquidator recovery actions in the Supreme Court of Victoria
• insurance litigation, including representing the successful ‘Johnston’ group in their challenge to insurers’ assertions of subrogation rights in Johnston v. Endeavour Energy [2015] NSWSC 1117 (and more recently Francis v. Powercor Australia Ltd [2020] VSC 836) and
• competition law, most recently acting for the ACCC in
  • ACCC v. Medibank Private Ltd (FCA 2016)
  • ACCC v. Telstra Corporation (FCA 2018)
  • Lachlan also acted in the successful application to ACCC for authorisations under Part VII of the Competition and Consumer Act, such as the “North East Winegrowers” application (2008)
• ASIC proceedings, including acting for ASIC in:
  • ASIC v. Wealth Management Pty Ltd (in liq) (FCA 2018)
  • ASIC v. Financial Circle Pty Ltd (FCA 2018)

Lachlan advises in a wide range of commercial, insurance and general litigation matters. He appears in the Supreme Courts of all States, and in the Federal Court.

Other matters

Lachlan was the originating author of the “class actions” commentary in the Butterworths Federal Court Practice loose-leaf and the author of the “class actions” chapter in Legg et al “Resolving Civil Disputes” (Lexis/Nexis Butterworth 2016).

Committee memberships

• Law Council of Australia – Federal Litigation Section – Class Actions Committee
• Supreme Court of Victoria – Corporations & Commercial Court Users’ Group
• Federal Court of Australia – Class Actions User Group
• Chair – Class Actions Committee, Commercial Bar Association (Victorian Bar)

Areas of Practice

Cases