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ARTICLE · 30 NOVEMBER 2025

Finality Preserved: Advocate's Immunity In Focus

Gilchrist Connell
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Advocate's immunity is an immunity from suit, enabling legal practitioners to defend negligence claims arising from work performed in the conduct of litigation.

AustraliaLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration
Marini Mann
Marini Mann
Tiarn Pauletto
Tiarn Pauletto
Jazmine Miles
Jazmine Miles
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The Victorian Court of Appeal, in Magriplis-Hampton v MM LP Holding Pty Ltd [2025] VSCA 274, has reaffirmed the breadth of the advocate's immunity defence and clarified its application to interlocutory rulings, including serious injury gateway determinations under the Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013 (Vic) (WIRC Act).

Advocate's immunity is an immunity from suit, enabling legal practitioners to defend (and seek to strike out) negligence claims arising from work performed in the conduct of litigation, including tasks outside the courtroom that are intimately connected with the case.

In Magriplis-Hampton, the Court reaffirmed that advocate's immunity serves a critical policy objective: ensuring the finality of judicial decisions and avoiding the reopening of matters already adjudicated.

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