Maurice Blackburn

Key practice areas: Class Actions & Major Projects
Qualifications: LLB, BJuris
Location: Melbourne (VIC)

Bernard Murphy is the Chair of the Board of Maurice Blackburn and is the Senior Principal of the Major Projects department, which is Australia's largest class action legal practice.

Bernard has 30 years experience in litigation practice and has been involved in a number of major cases.  He has acted in, supervised or advised on the conduct of 24 class actions, including 11 shareholder class actions and four cartel class actions.  Bernard lectures at Melbourne University in Class Action Law and presents at many seminars and conferences.

Bernard's major cases include:

• the Aristocrat shareholder class action which settled in August 2008 for $144.5 million - the largest class action settlement in Australia;
• the GIO shareholder class action which settled in August 2003 for $112 million in a breakthrough for corporate governance - the first successful shareholder class action in Australia and the second largest class action settlement; and
• the Vitamins cartel class action which settled in September 2006 for $41 million - the first successful cartel class action in Australia and the third largest class action settlement.

He is currently acting in the bank fees class action, Centro shareholder class action, the Kilmore Kinglake Bushfire class action and abalone virus class action.