Australian Legal Commission Recommends Major Changes to Class Actions

The Australian Law Reform Commission released a number of recommendations for the country’s class action litigation system, the Australian Financial Review reports.

One such recommendation is to lift the current ban on contingency fee arrangements for class action attorneys to allow the attorneys to take “reasonable and proportionate” amounts from settlements or judgments. The Commission also recommended that all third party litigation funders hold a “litigation funding license” to operate in the country.

Ruth Overington, a partner at the global law firm Herbert Smith Freehills, said the Commission’s proposal has “the potential to radically change the class action landscape.”