Top Australian firm Clayton Utz has challenged a judge’s finding that its advice led to the destruction of thousands of British American Tobacco (BAT) documents thereby denying a plaintiff a fair trial.

The case – the first of its kind outside the US – saw Rolah McCabe, a grandmother dying of cancer, awarded damages of A$710,000 (£259,000) on 22 March after Victoria State judge Geoffrey Eames said BAT and Clayton Utz had subverted the discovery process.