New South Wales Court of Appeal case Arab Bank Australia v Sayde Developments considered the application of penalties doctrine to default interest rate provisions in load agreements post the high court's libera approach to the doctrine in Paciocco v ANZ. ...

The High Court has ruled that a liquidator has no obligation to retain monies on account of tax until a notice of assessment has been issued The decision will provide much needed clarity for liquidators and other statutorily deemed trustees and agents Partners Charles Armitage and Christopher ...

Perhaps the most important unanswered question in Australian class action law has been how causation may be established in a shareholder class action After more than a decade of uncertainty the Supreme Court of NSW has ruled that shareholders can prove causation by establishing that the price of the ...

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 ...

After almost 10 years of negotiations between the nations on 17 November 2014 Prime Minister Abbott and President Xi announced the conclusion of negotiations on the China Australia Free Trade Agreement ChAFTA Once implemented the ChAFTA is expected to significantly reduce import barriers for ...

The Australian Government has announced that from 1 March 2015 acquisitions of agricultural land worth more than A15 million and any additional acquisitions over and above that amount will require government approval It will also establish a foreign ownership register of agricultural land ...

The Supreme Court of New South Wales has given further guidance on the scope of its power to grant leave to a deed administrator to compulsorily transfer the shares of a company The decision in the matter of Nexus Energy Ltd subject to deed of company arrangement 2014 NSWSC 1910 confirms that this ...

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 ...

Corporate mergers and acquisitions commonly involve changes to entities that comprise a corporate group the holding of property within that group and the ultimate beneficial ownership of that group Even if those changes occur entirely outside Australia Australian landholder duty may be payable and ...

Board of Taxation's report on tax arrangements applying to collective investment vehicles, released by the Federal Government on 4 June 2015. ...