It's all action for Slater & Gordon giant slayer Rebecca Urban From: The Australian September 11, 2010 12:00AM
BARELY a week passes without the threat of a class action against some corporate giant that has fallen foul of investors.
Centro, Storm, Westpoint, OZ Minerals, Sigma and, most recently, Nufarm, are just a few that have faced, or are facing, the harsh glare of litigation as a result of alleged indiscretions.
For that they have Slater & Gordon's James Higgins to blame.
As the national head of the commercial and project litigation group, Melbourne-based Higgins is responsible for driving the strategy of a division that has become an integral part of the publicly listed law firm's stated goal of doubling its revenue to more than $250 million by 2015.
Investor class actions are set to play an increasing role in that, which is unlikely to win the 36-year-old lawyer many friends in Australia's boardrooms.
"There's a long-held view about Slater & Gordon among parts of the business community that we're ambulance chasers -- we're people who destroy profits and jobs, and various other allegations," Higgins says.
"But shareholder class actions are fundamentally done on behalf of other companies.
"We take on many cases for the banks, the big fund managers and other huge firms."
Changes to legislation, including an interim exemption freeing lawyers and litigation funders from the various obligations associated with running managed investment schemes, have led to a wave of actions over the past year or so.
Meanwhile, the global financial crisis, which caught out many highly leveraged companies and destroyed billions of dollars in shareholder value, has also created ample opportunities for the law firm and its competitors.
Going in to bat for the so-called underdog is in Higgins' blood. Both parents were lawyers who worked for Slater & Gordon. His father, Mike Higgins, was behind some of the first asbestosis cases, almost 30 years ago.
However, his own budding legal career was almost cut off by a passion for politics or, more specifically, wanting to see an end to the reign of Jeff Kennett as Victoria's premier.
The left-leaning Higgins was studying law, politics and drama at Melbourne's Monash University in the early 1990s when he went to work as an intern for up-and-coming Labor politician Steve Bracks.
He later went to work for Labor in opposition, having been hired by John Brumby's then chief-of-staff, Julia Gillard.
"She was a fantastic chief-of-staff," Higgins recalls of the recently elected Prime Minister.
"The facilities we had out the back of Parliament House were pretty shocking, and we were young and all over the place, underpaid but very passionate.
"She basically created a strong professional environment that was focused on outcomes."
Higgins always intended to revert to law, but Labor's surprise election victory in 1999 led to him being promoted to senior legal adviser to the new Premier, Steve Bracks. He remained there for the next three years before joining Slater & Gordon to complete his articles in 2002.
One of his first class action cases was on behalf of a group of disabled people who had been sexually abused.
He has also carried on some of his father's work by representing numerous victims of asbestos-related diseases.
After spending several years in Queensland, where he established the firm's Brisbane office, Higgins returned to Melbourne three years ago. Now he manages a team of about 65 staff, most assigned to class actions.
Most of the shareholder-backed cases currently on the books centre on allegations that boards and management have misled investors about their company's financial situation, therefore breaching their disclosure obligations.
Most have been prompted by surprise earnings downgrades that have caused share prices to tank.
Higgins denies that it's open slather on any company that dares to disappoint with bad news.
He says class actions have an important role to play in improving the standard of corporate governance in Australia's boardrooms.
In fact, Slater & Gordon's board has decreed that prospective cases must provide a benefit to the corporate governance landscape if they are to proceed.
Cases also have to secure backing from institutional shareholders, while the firm must seek to resolve claims directly with the company before commencing proceedings.
Few class actions go to trial, with most settling out of court.
An example of this is the deal the firm struck with the Commonwealth Bank on behalf of 1500 former clients of Storm, the Townsville financial adviser that collapsed last year.
Higgins intends to follow closely the career of his former boss as she runs the country, but he harbours no political ambitions of his own.
Married to Yarra City Council mayor Jane Garrett, a former lawyer whom he met while working in Brumby's office, he says one politician in the family is enough.
He is undeniably proud of his wife, whose photo serves as a screensaver on his computer at work.
One of Higgins' biggest challenges at the moment is leaving the office by 6.30pm on weeknights so he can get home to take over the childcare duties.
