A recent decision of the High Court could intensify uncertainty about the legitimacy of resolving civil penalty proceedings by the regulator and the defendant approaching the court with an agreed penalty supported by an agreed statement of facts Partner Matthew McLennan and Lawyer Megan Sandler ...

A recent Federal Court decision highlights the importance of managing the provision of information and documentation to third parties with caution in order to preserve legal professional privilege Partner Richard Harris and Senior Associate Elnaz Nikibin report on the case ...

Further amendments to existing property legislation that aims to streamline the sale of property particularly in respect of the sale of off-the-plan lots have been introduced into the Queensland Parliament These amendments will be of substantial benefit to developers Partner Alister Fitzgerald ...

Parties involved in large-scale commercial transactions with non-lawyer third-party advisers need to be aware that communications with these advisers will rarely be protected by legal professional privilege following a recent Federal Court decision ...

A representative proceeding can only be commenced where seven or more group members have claims against the same person In proceedings with multiple respondents there has been conflicting authority as to whether each group member is required to have a claim against each respondent Last week in Cash ...

There is lots of noise about the duties of financial advisers and lawyers including us love to debate whether FoFA has left any room for fiduciary obligations ...

The Federal Court has dismissed shareholders claims against Babcock Brown alleging failure to disclose market sensitive information The court made important findings on the scope of listed entities continuous disclosure obligations in the context of accounting irregularities and potential insolvency ...

A recent Federal Court of Australia decision has reaffirmed that a companys board of directors has the primary role in managing a company and that there are limits on shareholders legal ability to control that management Partner and Co-Leader of Allens Head Office Governance team Greg Bosmans and ...

ASX has released a number of proposed amendments to the ASX Foreign Exempt Listing Rules that will significantly lower both the ongoing compliance burden and the admission thresholds for New Zealand companies already listed or seeking a listing on ASX Partner Robert Pick Senior Associate Georgie ...

Encouraging share ownership by non-executive directors through non-executive director share rights plans is set to increase following a recent ATO class ruling. ...