Amanda Banton

Amanda Kim Banton (born 26 July 1970) is an Australian lawyer who specialises in corporate litigation, particularly matters involving complex financial instruments and insolvency based disputes. Until March 2020 she was a partner in the Sydney office of global business law firm Squire Patton Boggs.[1] As of March 2020 Banton established her own law firm, Banton Group.[2]

Banton is best known for successfully representing a range of religious organisations, charities and local government authorities seeking redress for losses suffered after they purchased "toxic" financial products created and sold by various financial institutions, including Lehman Bros and ABN Amro.[3][4][5][6][7] She is also the first and only lawyer to successfully win judgement against a ratings agency (Standard & Poor's) for misrating such products as AAA.[8][9][10][11]

Between October 2014 and March 2016 Banton filed a number of further class actions against Standard & Poor's alleging misleading and deceptive conduct and negligence by S&P. Those claims were amended in October 2017 to allege deceit against S&P.[12] Those matters were settled in May 2018 for $215 million.[13][14] The Court approved the settlement in August 2018.[15]

In 2014 Banton also filed a class action law suit against another ratings firm, Fitch Ratings, alleging that the firm "had engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct and was negligence in giving AAA and AA ratings to certain collateralized debt obligations known as Palladin AAA and Palladin AA."[16] Fitch settled pre-trial in September 2019 for AU$27 million, representing the recovery of about 95% of the losses incurred by the plaintiffs, and is believed to be (in percentage terms), one of the largest settlements achieved pre-trial in Australia.[16]

Amanda's practice encompasses a broad range of corporate and commercial litigation matters, with a particular emphasis on matters relating to the Corporations Act, insolvency, state and federal trade practices legislation, negligence and contractual disputes.[17]

Amanda acted for the Dr and Mrs Dyczynski in a heartbreaking case which arose for the shooting down of MH17. The Full Federal Court has upheld the appeal brought by Dr and Mrs Dyczynski, the parents who lost their daughter on board the MH17 Malaysian Airlines crash, against their exclusion from a class action settlement brought by LHD Lawyers on behalf of family members of victims of the crash.[18]

Biography

Banton completed bachelor's degrees in Commerce and Law at the University of Adelaide in 2002. (B.Comm, LLB).[10][17]

Banton commenced her legal career at Piper Alderman in 2002 where she practiced in corporate litigation and restructuring & insolvency. She was appointed Partner in 2007. In 2015 Banton and a team of 11 lawyers plus support staff left the firm and joined Squire Patton Boggs.[19]

Banton is admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of New South Wales, the Supreme Court of Queensland and the High Court of Australia.[17]

In 2000 Banton worked at KPMG Consulting (Later BearingPoint[20]) in the Public Sector Consulting Group.[10] She advised on a range of projects including process reengineering, change management and performance improvement and reporting.

Between approximately 1992 and 2000 she worked for the Commonwealth Government. Banton's roles included being a senior officer with responsibilities in respect of the education budget at the Department of Finance[8] and senior roles at a statutory organisation engaged pursuant to the Commonwealth's purchaser provider framework. Banton's role at the statutory organisation included developing the performance framework and reporting processes for the provider contract.

Awards
  • 2019 Australian Dispute Resolution Partner of the Year (Finalist) – Lawyers Weekly[21]
  • 2018 Australian Dispute Resolution Team of the Year (Finalist) – Lawyers Weekly[22]
  • 2016 Australian Insolvency Partner of the Year (Winner)– Lawyers Weekly[23]
  • 2014 Hot 40 Private Practice Lawyer - Australasian Lawyer[24]
  • 2013 Australian Dispute Star for Restructuring and Insolvency - Euromoney's Benchmark, Asia Pacific[25]

References
  1. "Amanda K. Banton". Squire Patton Boggs. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  2. "Banton Group".
  3. Whyte, Jemima (9 Mar 2018). "Standard & Poor's class action to test limits for claims". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  4. Wardell, Jane (9 Mar 2018). "S&P settles Australian lawsuit over Lehman Bros collapse". Reuters. Reuters. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  5. Hume, Neil (6 Nov 2012). "S&P misled investors, court finds". Financial Times. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  6. Reuters (5 Nov 2012). "Australian court issues landmark judgment against S&P". The Telegraph. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  7. "Lehman Brothers hearing commences today" (PDF). Piper Alderman. 2 March 2011. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  8. Lagan, Bernard (3 December 2012). "The Smartest Girls in the Room". The Global Mail. Archived from the original on 7 March 2013.
  9. Courtenay, Adam (1 Apr 2017). "Taking on Wall St: How an Australian CPA beat the Street". INTHEBLACK. CPA Australia. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  10. Shanahan, Leo (8 November 2012). "David and Goliath lawyer Amanda Banton a class act". The Australian. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  11. "S&P litigator switches law firms". Investor Daily. Momentum Media. 10 December 2014. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  12. "Australian investors gain significant win against Standard & Poor's". eSquire Global Crossings. Squire Patton Boggs. 25 October 2017.
  13. "'Significant vindication': S&P pays $215m to settle landmark GFC lawsuit". Sydney Morning Herald. 30 August 2018.
  14. "S&P settles landmark lawsuit in Australia over its role in the GFC". The Sydney Morning Herald. 10 August 2018.
  15. "Liverpool City Council v McGraw-Hill Financial, Inc (now known as S&P Global Inc) [2018] FCA 1289". Federal Court of Australia. 9 August 2018.
  16. Dolor, Sol (14 September 2019). "Top litigators help close settlement in class action that may have global implications". Australasian Lawyer. Key Media Pty Ltd. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  17. "Bio". Squire Patton Boggs. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  18. Whitbourn, Michaela (2020-07-09). "Law firm apologises for 'letting down' parents of MH17 crash victim". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2020-07-10.
  19. Whealing, Justin (9 Dec 2014). "Exclusive: Pipers lose leading light". Lawyers Weekly. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  20. Perez, Juan; Han, Helen (4 October 2002). "KPMG Consulting becomes BearingPoint". ComputerWorld. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  21. Ryan, Emma (9 April 2019). "Partner of the Year Awards finalists revealed". Lawyers Weekly. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  22. "Australian Law Awards finalists revealed". Lawyers Weekly. 12 July 2018. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  23. Bullock, Lara (20 June 2016). "Partner of the Year Awards". Lawyers Weekly. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  24. "Australasian Lawyer's Hot 40 for 2014". Australasian Lawyer. 1 May 2014. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  25. "Leading Australian Insolvency and Litigation Partner Joins Squire Patton Boggs". Squire Patton Boggs. 8 December 2014. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
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