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 ...

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 draft tax ruling may make it more difficult for employers to claim tax deductions for contributions made to employee remuneration trusts However the ruling is expected to have limited practical application to listed companies making non-refundable contributions to traditional employee share ...

In a unanimous decision the Full Federal Court has confirmed that genetic materials in their isolated form remain patentable in Australia The decision related to an appeal from an earlier Federal Court decision in which it was found isolated nucleic acids to be a manner of manufacture as required by ...

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 ...

Exposure draft life insurance regulations were released yesterday They are a marked departure from the existing conflicted remuneration provisions Now a benefit can only be conflicted remuneration if it could reasonably be expected to influence financial product advice These regulations will create ...

The Bill to amend the conflicted remuneration provisions in the Corporations Act for life insurance has been introduced into Parliament a second time and draft regulations have been released for comment However we struggle to know how to describe them because the changes seem to have conflicting ...

There were three announcements this week that will serve to bolster the emerging Australian FinTech sector The Government released a statement in support of FinTech as part of its National Innovation and Science Agenda while ASIC issued two sets of guidance an information sheet for providers of ...

ASIC is consulting on a new regulatory guide for providers of digital financial product advice or robo-advice The regulatory guide is intended to help new entrants and existing Australian financial services licence holders For new entrants and licensees needing a reminder there is a nice summary of ...

Has talk of a royal commission turned the ASIC Capability Review into an unlikely catalyst for an enhanced enforcement agenda With Labor pushing hard for a royal commission into the banking and financial services industry and an election looming the Government moved swiftly to announce broad reform ...