SYDNEY UNIVERSITY PROSPECTIVE CLASS ACTION
Class Action to be brought against the University of Sydney by Jewish Students and Staff
Levitt Robinson Solicitors, instructing Adam Butt of Counsel, will be imminently launching class action proceedings to protect and defend Jewish Students and Staff at Sydney University (the ‘USyd Class Action’).
Complaints alleging racial discrimination filed at the Australian Human Rights Commission
Last Friday 1 November 2024, Levitt Robinson Solicitors filed two separate, representative complaints with the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) alleging racial discrimination and racial vilification (antisemitism) against Jewish students and academics by Professor John Keane and the University of Sydney, and Dr Nick Riemer and the University of Sydney, respectively.
The USyd Class Action will seek orders to hold the propagators of antisemitic vilification and other discriminatory and tortious conduct to account.
‘Class actions’
A class action (also known as a ‘representative action’) is a type of legal proceeding in which the plaintiff(s) or lead applicant(s) bring a claim on behalf of a wider group of people who have been affected in the same, similar, or related circumstances and which give rise to a common question of law.
‘Lead Applicants’
Lead Applicant(s) are the only individuals who are named in the proceedings from the outset and are selected based upon the representative nature of their claims.
So, for the USyd Class Action, there will be at least one (1) Lead Applicant for Jewish students and one (1) for Jewish Staff, both of whom allege that they have been affected by antisemitism at the University of Sydney.
‘Group Members’
A ‘Group Member’ is an individual who has been affected by the same, similar, or related circumstances as the Lead Applicant.
So, a ‘Group Member’ in the USyd Class Action will be an individual, who is not a Lead Applicant, and who have been affected by antisemitism at the University of Sydney, namely:
- Jewish Students,
- Jewish Staff, and/or
- Any other Employee, Academic or Student who has been affected by antisemitism at the University of Sydney.
Group members are not named or otherwise identified in the proceedings, unless and until there is a reason to do so – for example, when a financial upside is payable to the group (verdict or settlement monies).
How to Get Involved:
Register your details to demonstrate your support for the action and to be kept up-to-date with all developments.
Register Your Interest
Make a financial contribution:
Levitt Robinson will utilise the Georgatos Foundation, a registered charity with tax exemption, which will accept donations within its charter, and pass them on to the Funder. Donations will be placed into a dedicated bank account, known as the ‘USyd Litigation Fund’.
THE TEAM
Levitt Robinson
Levitt Robinson has extensive experience in successfully prosecuting Class Actions and with a particular focus on Human Rights. Click here to read more.
Stewart Levitt, Senior Partner of Levitt Robinson Solicitors, has been practising law for 45 years. This year, Stewart Levitt of Levitt Robinson Solicitors was recognised (as he has been since 2019) in “Best Lawyers – Civil Rights Law, 2025”.
Dana Levitt, Human Rights Advocate, and Lawyer has three (3) degrees from the University of Sydney and a Masters’ Degree in Political Sciences (specialising in Contemporary Middle Eastern Politics) from IDC, Herzliya, Israel. Since her return to Australia from 4 years in Israel, she has been actively managing the conduct of three large Human Rights Class Actions.
Adam Butt of Counsel was voted Australia’s Lawyers’ Weekly “Barrister of the Year” in 2021. He was formerly a Senior Associate in the International Arbitration Team at Clayton Utz. He has worked closely with the Hon. James Spigelman AC, former Chief Justice of NSW, on complex commercial and human rights. He is a current member of the NSW Bar Association’s Human Rights Committee.
Only last year, Butt persuaded the Federal Court of Australia to hold the Victorian Department of Education vicariously liable for two school principals’ failures adequately to respond to antisemitic bullying at a Victorian State school which occurred from 2013 to 2020. The students’ claims centred on negligence and breaches of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975. See – Kaplan v. State of Victoria (No.8) [2023] FCA 1092.
Stewart Levitt of Levitt Robinson Solicitors speaks on the Israel Connexion.
Broadcast on the 3rd of July 2024.
Memo on Judicial Inquiry into Antisemitism and appointment of Australian Antisemitism Envoy
11.07.2024
Media Mentions
Conflicts Statement
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