Today the Full Federal Court clarified the law of penalties as it applies to fees The key development is that in considering whether the amount of a fee is extravagant and exorbitant compared to the potential costs incurred in dealing with a failure to perform an obligation the court held that ...

The recent Great Southern class action settlement included a term by which group members acknowledged and admitted that loans taken out with independent financiers to finance investments in Great Southern managed investment schemes were valid and enforceable Two separate Victorian Supreme Court ...

To coincide with Privacy Awareness Week, the OAIC has released a number of business resources. This Insight considers the key implications for stakeholders. ...

Key cyber risks faced by ASICs regulated population as well as the legal and compliance obligations to manage those risks are highlighted in a new ASIC report ASIC also identifies steps entities can take to address the risks The report marks a growing focus on cyber security issues by ASIC which is ...

The Australian Government has released its alpha Digital Service Standard which establishes criteria that all Australian digital government services must meet to ensure they are simpler faster and easier to use ...

Australia and japan have enetered into an economic partnership agreement to reducel tariff barriers on the majority of Australian exports to Japan. In contrast to the recently concluded Korea-Australia Free Trade Agreement, it does not include an investor-state dispute settlement mechanism. ...

Perhaps the most important unanswered question in Australian class action law is how causation may be established in the context of a shareholder class action In the United States this issue has been addressed by the fraud on the market theory This week the US Supreme Court rejected a challenge to ...

The Access to Justice Arrangements report proposes broad-ranging reforms to our civil justice system with the aim of improving access to justice Partner Belinda Thompson and Lawyer Annie Santamaria highlight some recommendations which also have the potential to impact more broadly on Australias ...

Record US penalties recently imposed on car manufacturers for failures to deal appropriately with safety defects are a timely reminder to Australian manufacturers of their product safety obligations Partner Belinda Thompson Senior Associate Jaime McKenzie and Lawyer Ishwar Singh report ...

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 ...