According to the report, more than 40% of the class actions filed in 2019 were filed on behalf of consumers. This result is a change from recent years in which being an ASX-listed company was the ...

Australia's modern slavery reporting regime was introduced one year ago, and 2020 will see the first set of modern slavery statements published by reporting entities. ...

The Australian Government has tabled the Crimes Amendment (Combatting Corporate Crime) Bill 2019 (the 2019 Bill) in the Senate, and the Attorney-General's Department has released Draft Guidance on the steps a body corporate can take to prevent an associate from bribing foreign public officials for public consultation (the Draft Guidance). Like the 2017 version of the Bill that lapsed earlier this year (the 2017 Bill), if passed, the 2019 Bill will strengthen Australia's foreign bribery laws, including by introducing a new corporate offence of failure to prevent bribery by an associate, and will introduce a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) scheme for resolving serious corporate criminal matters. Partner Rachel Nicolson, Senior Associate Andrew Wilcock and Associate Lewis Winter report on the key differences between the 2017 and 2019 Bills, and the content of the Draft Guidance. ...

The United Kingdom High Court (the Court) recently handed down its judgment in Amey Highways Ltd v West Sussex County Council, which considered the abandonment of a government procurement process following a breach of relevant procurement regulations by a public agency. For government departments and agencies in particular, this case clarifies when a public agency can abandon a procurement process and what remedies may be available to bidders in these circumstances. ...

It is critical that listed entities understand how COVID-19 is likely to impact their businesses and are prepared to make necessary disclosures to the ASX. To date, the majority of ASX-listed entities have not made any disclosure in relation to COVID-19. In this update we have set out a number of scenarios that should be considered by listed clients as part of the proper and ongoing assessment of the need for disclosure under the ASX Listing Rules. ...

The High Court has recently highlighted the significance of internal contractual standards when interpreting an obligation to use reasonable endeavours Partner Nick Rudge and Lawyers Goran Gelic and Timothy Leschke report on this development and its implications ...

In a recent decision the New South Wales Supreme Court held that a sufficiently significant failure to meet budget expectations could constitute a material adverse change and upheld the lenders right to serve a default notice and accelerate repayment on this basis Partner Diccon Loxton and Lawyer ...

The recent settlement of the Great Southern class action raises a number of interesting and important issues not only because the court took the unusual step of publishing its reasons for judgment after the settlement had been announced ...

ASIC has released its consultation paper on collective shareholder actions which calls for feedback on a draft update to Regulatory Guide 128 The consultation paper illustrates ASICs current albeit preliminary views on the tension between fostering increased investor engagement on the one hand and ...

In 2014 the Australian Securities and Investments Commission ASIC was chastened by the Senate Economics References Committee which wants ASIC to be more effective but encouraged by the Financial System Inquiry which wants ASIC to take on greater powers Meanwhile the Federal Government has reduced ...