HSF Kramer wins bid in $320k costs fight with betting company

The firm has since merged with Kramer Levin and is now known as Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer.

PlayUp, an online betting company, approached HSF partner Bryony Adams in February 2022 to assist with Federal Court proceedings against one of its former directors, Dr Laila Mintas.

Legal fees were paid in full up until September 2022, then a one-time partial payment of $40,000 was made in October, and finally, PlayUp resorted to partial payments of $1,000 per week from March 2024.

HSF commenced proceedings for recovery in May 2024.

On the evidence before Justice Anthony Payne, PlayUp owes a partial payment for a December 2022 invoice, and invoices issued monthly between January 2023 and September 2023 remain unpaid.

In May 2025, PlayUp and subsidiary Fan Technologies applied for an extension of time for an assessment of HSF’s costs, which the firm objected to because they were commercial clients and the relevant cost regime was not applicable to their dispute.

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Two months later, the manager for the costs assessment said the defendant’s application for an extension should be granted “in the interests of what is just and fair in the circumstances”.

The appointment decision was then made.

In his decision, published earlier this week, Justice Payne said the extension and appointment decisions were outside of the manager’s power because PlayUp and Fan Technologies were commercial clients of HSF, as defined under the Legal Profession Uniform Law (LPUL).

For the same reason, the costs assessor had no authority “to conduct a costs assessment or take any further steps in that assessment, as his appointment related to a dispute between parties not subject to the regime under which the relevant duties are referrable”.

“The dispute between a commercial client and a law firm is beyond the jurisdiction of the costs assessment regime as defined in the LPUL and associated regulations,” Justice Payne said.

The extension and appointment decisions were quashed, and an order was made to prohibit the assessor from taking any further steps.

The case: Bryony Adams on her own and on behalf of all the partners in the firm known as Herbert Smith Freehills (ABN 98 773 882 646) v PlayUp Ltd (ACN 612 529 307) [2026] NSWSC 89.