Kerrie Rosati, the Principal of DGT, is regarded as one of the profession’s leading experts in legal costs law. Kerrie works from both the Sydney and the Brisbane offices. Kerrie is a Court Appointed Costs Assessor in Queensland.
She has advised on legal costs issues in many high profile and complex cases in New South Wales and Federal jurisdictions. Kerrie also lectures regularly to the legal profession on legal costing issues for the Law Societies of New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, Northern Territory and Tasmania, the State Legal Conference, College of Law and other commercial seminar providers.
Kerrie is a current member of the Costs Assessors’ Users Group of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and of the Costs Committee of the Law Society of New South Wales.
Kerrie graduated with a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Technology in 1988 and was admitted to the Roll of Solicitors of the Supreme Court of New South Wales on 1 July 1988. After working in a large commercial law firm and taking some time off to raise her family, Kerrie joined DGT in February 1998.
Kerrie is also part of the DGT Costs Mediation team.
Kerrie regularly advises and acts as an expert in
security for costs applications and gross sum applications for costs in large
commercial matters in State and federal jurisdictions. Kerrie is also able to
act as an expert in to assist the Court in approving costs in settlement of
representative proceedings.
Memberships:
– Law Society of New South Wales
– Queensland Law Society
– Australian Capital Territory Law Society
– Costs Assessors’ Users Group Committee
– Costs Working Group of the Law Society of New South Wales
– Australian Lawyers Alliance
– Member of the American Bar Association
– NALFA – National Associate of Legal Fee Attorneys (US based)
Other Activities:
– Co-author of the current Costs Guidebook published by the Law Society of New South Wales
– Trained mediator
Experience
Significant matters include:
– Advised as to costs and prepared bills of cost for the successful applicants in the Helix class action litigation run in the Federal Court in the late 1990’s and assisted with negotiation of costs in excess of $2 million;
– Between 2003 until 2010 I acted for at least 30 successful plaintiffs to resolve legal costs issues in long running and complex personal injury claims against the Commonwealth of Australia arising out of the collision of the HMAS Voyager and HMAS Melbourne in 1964 – the costs in many of these matters were well in excess of $1 million;
– Advised Seven Network Limited in the C7 proceedings as to quantum and strategy in an application made against that company for gross sum costs in the Federal Court in 2007;
– Advised and acted for the Commonwealth in the matter of Vivian Alvarez Solon v the Commonwealth of Australia in relation to costs issues between 2006 and 2010;
– Advised and acted as an expert for ASIC in relation to an application for gross sum costs in excess of $15 million made by Mr Jodee Rich in late 2009;
– Advising the Special Purpose Liquidator of One.Tel Limited (in liquidation) in relation to legal costs issues which were ultimately resolved in late 2013;
– Advising and preparing bills of costs for taxation for the successful plaintiffs in the proceedings in the Full Court of the High Court in Plaintiff M61/2010E v Commonwealth of Australia; Plaintiff M69 of 2010 v Commonwealth of Australia [2010] HCA 41;
– advising and preparing bills of costs for taxation for the successful plaintiffs in the Full Court of the High Court for urgent injunctive relief in Plaintiff M70/2011 v Minister for Immigration and Citizenship; Plaintiff M106 of 2011 v Minister for Immigration and Citizenship [2011] HCA 32 (31 August 2011) – the Malaysian deal proceedings;
– Advised and acted as an expert for the NSW Office of the Legal Services Commissioner in disciplinary proceedings in the Administrative Decisions Tribunal against Russell Keddie and Phillip Scroope which were finalised in mid-2012;
– Acted for QBE Insurance Limited providing expert evidence as to indemnification for legal costs incurred in New South Wales for the High Court of New Zealand in November 2012;
– Acted for the successful Appellants in Daley v Hughes [2014] NSWCA 268 in an appeal from a decision of a costs assessor when the Court held in July 2014 that there was no right of appeal from a decision rather than a determination;
– Acted for the law practice in an application by a client to the Supreme Court of Queensland to set aside a costs agreement in Illingworth v O’Reilly Stevens in 2014;
– Acted for the Plaintiffs
ordered to pay costs as a gross sum totalling more than $6 Million in the
matter of Warragamba Winery Pty Ltd v
State of New South Wales (No.9)
[2012] NSWSC 701;
– Acted for ASIC on a taxation
of costs objecting to more than $2 million in the Brisbane registry of the
Federal Court in December 2015 in ASIC
v Cassimatis;
– Acted as an expert for the
Law Society of NSW in proceedings in NCAT in Law Society of NSW v Berger (No.1) [2017] NSWCATOD 137;
– Acted as an expert in a lump
sum costs application in the Federal Court in mid-2018 in NSD 2080 of 2016
in the matter of Re.Group Pty Ltd v Kazal; and
– Acted as an expert in an
application for security for costs of an appeal in late 2018 for the
Public Trustee of Queensland v Oztech Pty Ltd file number NSD 1185 of
2018.
