Michael Legg

Associate Professor

LLM University of California Berkeley USA, LLB UNSW, M.Com (Hons) UNSW, B.Com (Hons) UNSW

Contact details

Room:

215 Law Building

Phone:

9385 9653

E-mail:

m.legg@unsw.edu.au

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Brief overview

Michael joined the Faculty in February 2009 after more than 10 years in practice with leading Australian and US law firms. Michael specialised in the areas of class actions, regulatory and commercial litigation. Michael’s major matters in Australia included:

• advising ASX 200 companies on various areas of compliance with the Corporations Act including directors duties, continuous disclosure, accounting and auditing requirements, and the operation of management investment schemes.
• defending cartel proceedings commenced by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
• defending a company director facing an Australian Securities and Investments Commission criminal prosecution for market manipulation and misleading representations.
• defending a telecommunications submarine cable consortia in proceedings brought by a group of trawl fisherman alleging that submarine cables prevented fishing.
• acting for a major international airline in two Federal Court class actions involving the aviation industry.
• advising institutional investors on litigation funding and participation in shareholder class actions.
• a number of contractual and joint venture disputes, including Esso Australia Resources Pty Ltd v Southern Pacific Petroleum NL & Ors [2005] VSCA 228, a leading decision on the implied term of good faith.

Michael was also an Associate with Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP in New York for 3 years where he represented Fortune 500 companies in product liability, patent and bankruptcy matters. During that time he was involved in the successful defence of novel class actions in the state courts of West Virginia and Texas. The former being reported in The American Lawyer’s “Big Suits”, December 2002, p.52. He also prepared the expert witnesses for a national punitive damages defence to product liability claims. Michael also acted for one of the Big 4 audit firms in auditor liability litigation and class actions in the federal courts of New York and California.

Courses taught

Areas of expertise

Civil Procedure, Class Actions, Regulatory Litigation, Corporate and Securities Law, US Legal System, Comparative Civil Procedure

Professional memberships and affiliations

Member of the Law Society of NSW Litigation Law and Practice Committee.

Law Society of NSW Representative on the Federal Court's User Group Committee.

Law Society of NSW Representative on the Federal Court's Class Action User Group.

Member of Law Council of Australia Class Actions Committee.

Member of the American Bar Association, Litigation Section.

Board Member (UNSW Nominee) National Pro Bono Resource Centre.

Consultant, Clayton Utz.