The Federal Court has awarded a substantial penalty of $500,000 against a franchisor that had contravened both the Australian Consumer Law and the Franchising Code of Conduct ...

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 ...

New tax legislation has been introduced to Parliament that contains tax concessions for employees of small start-up companies who are granted employee shares and options Partner Sarah Bernhardt and Senior Associate Shaun Cartoon members of Allens Accelerate team report ...

Hands up if you tuned in to the Financial System Inquirys discussion of bank capital - but felt you didnt really understand the basics well enough to follow it closely To paraphrase one of our numerous recent prime ministers this article is here to help ...

The Federal Government has announced that ASIC will establish a public register of financial advisers, intended to benefit consumers, who will be able to check that their adviser is appropriately authorised and qualified before receiving personal advice. ...

In response to recent confirmation that Iran has met its international nuclear commitments the Australian Government has lifted all nuclear-related economic and financial sanctions against that country ...

The AAT has overturned the Grubb determination of the Commonwealth Privacy Commissioner and found that mobile network data from an individual's phone activity does not constitute 'personal information' under the Privacy Act ...

The FSI report recommended that the Government facilitate rationalisation of legacy products in the life insurance and managed investment scheme industries The need for ways to close legacy products has been kicking around for at least a decade and in 2007 Treasury released a very thorough options ...

The Ideas Boom has arrived with the Federal Governments National Innovation and Science Agenda Central to the new agenda are a raft of tax and regulatory measures designed to encourage greater investment in startups to help them both get off the ground and to survive the valley of death with greater ...

Our Contract Law Update provides an overview of important contract law decisions by Australian appellate courts in the past 12 months and considers their significance for the development of Australian contract law ...