CURRICULUM VITAE
IAN RAMSEY-STEWART, COSTS LAWYER
STEWART LAWYERS
General Introduction and Outline of Experience
1. I am the Principal of Stewart Lawyers.
2. I was admitted to practice as a solicitor in the Supreme Court of New South Wales in December 1995 and as a practitioner in the Federal and High Courts of Australian in January 1996. I am a costs assessment expert and have worked exclusively in the area of advising and acting for lawyers and legal practices on the correct assessment of costs for the past 14 years.
3. I am experienced in producing reports that comply with the Supreme Court of New South Wales and the Federal Court Practice Notes for the preparation of expert legal costs evidence.
4. I understand that I have an overriding duty to assist the court on matters relevant to my area of expertise and that my role is to provide relevant and impartial evidence in my area of expertise.
5. The opinions I expressed in my reports and affidavits are based wholly or substantially on the specialised knowledge that I have gained through my experience as a legal costs lawyer.
6. The basis and reasons for my opinions expressed in my reports and affidavits set out in in those documents. Any assumptions of fact that I have made or make, to the extent that any opinion I express which involves the acceptance of another person’s opinion, are clearly set out in the report or affidavit and, where applicable, identified in the materials briefed to me from time to time.
7. I have practised exclusively in the area of Legal Costs since 2002. I have conducted my own practice – Stewart Lawyers – since January 2005. My practice is Legal Costs specific and I do not undertake legal work in any other area other than Legal Costs.
8. I am regularly retained to analyse legal costs in large scale matters including assessing Legal Costs in representative proceedings. Since 2008 I have analysed and reported on Legal Costs in 10 representative proceedings. The majority of these representative proceedings have been shareholder class actions which required me to assess the reasonableness of both costs incurred in the substantive proceeding as well as costs to be incurred or that had been incurred in administering of settlements.
9. I am regularly briefed to provide costs expert reports, gross sum application reports and analysis of costs for security for costs applications.
10. In the course of my employment with DG Thompson as a part of my daily work tasks, I was required to check work undertaken by all trainee costs consultants and other more senior costs consultants who required assistance from time to time in the preparation of their bills of costs, notices of objection and notices of response. In the course of my employment with DG Thompson, I estimate that I checked and assisted in the preparation of approximately 800 such documents (bills of costs, notices of objection and notices of response) as well as considering other correspondence where required and as submitted from the various costs consultants engaged by DG Thompson from time to time.
11. In the course of conducting my law firm and costs consultancy, I have undertaken instructions in approximately 1,175 legal costing matters for the period 1 January 2005 until 23 October 2018.
12. In summary, I have been involved; both directly and indirectly; with approximately 1,975 legal costing related matters in the last 14 years.
13. In the course of conducting my own practice, since January 2005, I have taken instructions in respect of the preparation of bills of costs, notices of objection, experts’ reports (security for costs applications and gross sum applications), advices on costs, preparation of notices of objection and notices of response in all New South Wales jurisdictions (excluding the old Workers Compensation Court, CARS and the Workers Compensation Commission matters) as well as regularly undertaking work in the Federal Court and the High Court relating to the process of taxation and the provision of experts’ reports (security for costs and gross sum applications). This work includes the assessment of costs in 10 Federal Court representative proceedings.
Qualifications
· Bachelor of Science Sydney University - 1988
· Diploma of Law (Solicitors Admissions Board) - 1994
· Admitted as the solicitor in Supreme Court of New South Wales – December 1995
· Admitted as a practitioner in the Federal and High Courts of Australia – January 1996
Stewart Lawyers and Stewart Legal Costing
· Principal - January 2005 to present date
· Stewart Lawyers and Stewart Legal Costing provide costing services to law firms. Services provided include drawing bills of costs, notices of objection and notices of response in the assessment procedure of New South Wales; costing advice; preparation of bills of costs, objections, attendance at taxations in the Federal and High Courts of Australia; general cost consultancy and expert reports as required.
· Stewart Lawyers regularly provides in-house training and CLEs to client law firms and professional associations on all aspects of costing.
General Legal Costing prior to Stewart Lawyers and Stewart Legal Costing
· Costs Consultant - July 2004 to December 2004 - Swaab Attorneys – practitioner/client costs recovery, party/party costs assessments and staff training.
· Client Services Manager - October 2002 to June 2004 - DG Thompson Legal Costing Services Pty Limited (and later DG Thompson + Driscoll Matters and McDonald – Legal Costing Services Pty Limited) - Duties included daily contact with clients, quoting and estimates for legal costing services to be provided, daily management and supervision of contract costs consultants, training of new costs consultants, provision of legal costing seminars to clients of DG Thompson, advice work, and general costing including bills of costs, responses and objections including daily supervision and checking of the trainee costs consultants work.
General Commercial Litigation Experience
· Solicitor 1995 to 2004 - General commercial litigation in all New South Wales and Federal jurisdictions (TressCox, Swaab Attorneys, Kemp Strang and Gillis Delaney Brown).
· Paralegal -1993 to 1995 - Local Court and District Court proceedings - debt recovery and mortgagee in possession work for corporate financial service providers and community lenders (TressCox).
I have been involved as the costs lawyer or independent expert in many reported and large scale costs proceedings inter alia:
April Fine Paper Macao Commercial Offshore Ltd –v- Moore Business Systems [2009] NSWSC 867 White J
Whitlam –v-National Roads and Motorists Association [2006] NSWSC 76
National Roads and Motorists Association –v- Whitlam [2007] NSWCA 81
University of Western Australia v Bruce Gray, Sirtex Medical Limited anors – Federal Court of Australia – Gross Sum Costs - WAD 292 0f 2004
Hobbs Andersons –v- Oz Minerals Limited – Federal Court Class Action – NSD 1127 of 2009
Hadchiti anors –v- Nufarm Limited – Federal Court Class Action NSD 1847 of 2010
Kirby –v- Centro Properties Limited anor – Federal Court Class Action – VD 326 and 327 of 2008
Stott –v- PriceWaterhouseCoopers – Federal Court Class Action – VD 1028 of 2010
NAB anors (bank fees) – Federal Court Class Action and High Court Appeal
De Brett Seafood Pty Ltd anors –v- Qantas Airways Limited anors (Air Cargo) – Federal Court Class Action – VD 12 of 2007
Inabu Pty Limited –v- Leighton Holdings – Federal Court Class Action – NSD 2244 of 2013
Amom – NSW Supreme Court Class Action – False Imprisonment of Young People
De Puy – Artificial Hip and Knee prostheses – Federal Court Class Actions
Ample Source International –v- Bonython Anors – Federal Court and Full Federal Court
Betfair Pty Ltd –v- Racing New South Wales [2012] HCA 12 – Federal and High Court Taxations of Costs
Sportsbet Pty Ltd –v- Racing New South Wales [2012] HCA 13 - – Federal and High Court – Taxations of Costs
McHugh –v- Australian Jockey Club Limited (No.13) [2012] FCA 1441 – Federal and High Court – Taxations of Costs
Hancock –v- Rhinehart [Lump sum costs] – [2015] NSWSC 1640
Australian Institute of Fitness -v- Australian Institute of Fitness anors -Supreme Court of NSW Proceedings Nos 2014/65141, 2014/299981 and 2014/300068 – Gross Sum Application in 2016
Royal -v- El Ali (No.3) [2016] FCA 1573 – Gross Sum Application
HFPS Pty Limited (Trustee) -v- Tamaya Resources Limited (in liquidation) (No.3) [2017] FCA 650
Gillion Pty Limited -v- Wet Fix Holdings Pty Limited – Federal Court Taxation – NSD 772 of 2016
Sherrin Hire Pty Limited (ABN 45 007 741 942) v Sherrin Rentals Pty Limited anors – Federal Court Taxation NSD1981/2011, NSD350/2012 and NSD379/2014
BCI Finances Pty Limited (in Liquidation) v Binnetter anors – Federal Court Taxation – NSD 626 of 2011
McAlister v State of New South Wales, Avibin Pty Ltd and Powell – Federal Court Class Action – NSD 1968/2013