331-340 of 341 results
Take Two: anti-bribery reforms revived and long-awaited draft regulatory guidance released
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Corporate Crime) Bill 2019 (the 2019 Bill) in the Senate, and the Attorney-General's Department has released Draft Guidance on the steps a body corporate can take to prevent an associate from bribing foreign public officials for public consultation (the Draft Guidance).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and Associate Lewis Winter report on the key differences between the 2017 and 2019 Bills, and the content of the Draft Guidance. ...
Thriving in an era of scrutiny: Culture and conduct
Legal and compliance leaders should act now to combat serious and increasing legal and reputational risk ...
The fiduciary duty of mortgage brokers?
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 ...
Babcock & Brown - a market disclosure claim decided
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 ...
Decision confirms limits on general meeting shareholder activism
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 ...
Amendments reduce compliance burden for ASX-listed NZ companies
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 ...
Court takes an expansive view of threshold requirement for class actions against multiple respondents
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 ...
The Federal Court on information to third parties, legal professional privilege and waiver
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 ...
More (good) Queensland property law changes (inc. up to 20% deposits!!)
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 ...
Civil penalties: are negotiated outcomes still negotiable?
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 ...