Kerrie Rosati, principal of DGT Costs Lawyers 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 acted in and advised on legal costs issues in many high profile and complex cases in New South Wales, Queensland and all Federal jurisdictions. Kerrie also lectures regularly to the legal profession (nationally and internationally) 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 the Costs Committee and Ethics 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 a qualified mediator and part of the DGT Costs Mediation team.

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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)

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Other Activities:

• Regular presentations for the Law Society of New South Wales, Tasmania and Northern Territory on legal costs issues
• Presenter on Legal Costs for the QUT Legal Practice course
• Assisted in the drafting and amendments of the current Costs Guidebook published by the Law Society of New South Wales
• Trained mediator

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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; and
• 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.

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