Landmark Australian class actions book launches third edition

Following a period of evolution in the class actions market, the highly practical third edition of Class Actions in Australia is now available. An essential guide for any legal practitioner involved in class actions, the book provides complete coverage of class action law in Australia.  

Written by Damian Grave, Jason Betts and Ken Adams, this landmark title is fully updated to reflect both the maturity of class actions law and its continuing evolution and includes a new chapter on insurers responding to class action risk.

Launch event

We look forward to the virtual book launch as we celebrate the publication of the third edition of Class Actions in Australia (Thomson Reuters, 2022).

We are honoured to have Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Australia, The Hon James Allsop AO assist us in launching the book.

Authors Jason Betts, Damian Grave and Ken Adams will be joined by new contributing authors, Ante Golem, Cameron Hanson, Helen Mould, Guy Narburgh, Gregg Rowan, Christine Tran and Leah Watterson.

We are delighted to officially launch this book on 9 February 2022. If you are interested in attending our virtual launch, please email Emily.Moyle@hsf.com

New developments include

• The latest empirical information on Australia’s class actions regimes.
• Litigation funding and its continuing growth
• Growth of shareholder class actions, including the implications of the Myer (2019) and Worley (2020) decisions for listed companies’ disclosure obligations, misleading and deceptive conduct, market-based causation and the analysis and proof of loss.
• The courts’ approach to competing class actions and their role in managing multiplicity, including the decisions in GetSwift (2018) and AMP (2021).
• Continuing law reform activity

• The courts’ approach when considering settlement approval, including scrutiny of legal fees, litigation funding commissions and the merits of proposed settlements.
• Consideration by several courts, including the Federal Court and the NSW Court of Appeal, of their power and discretion to order “class closure”, and the impact on approaches to settlement of class actions.
• Analysis of insurance issues, including the availability of coverage, the role of insurers and insurance in proceedings, and market developments in this area.

Elegantly and clearly written, Class Actions in Australia is an essential guide for any legal practitioner involved with, or interested in, class action litigation.

How to purchase a copy

Copies of the book can be purchased from Thomson Reuters here:

Hard cover copy

Soft cover copy

eBook copy