Courts professions and regulation
Insolvency practitioner regulation – an Australian story
With the UK government rethinking the regulation of its insolvency practitioners (IPs), moving away from co-regulation to a system more …
UK insolvency review – “better outcomes from insolvency and increased returns to creditors”?
The first and rather glowing report on the operation of the Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016 has been issued …
Judicial Impartiality Final Report – still under wraps
The Australian Law Reform Commission handed its Judicial Impartiality Final Report to the Attorney-General, Senator Michaelia Cash on 6 December …
ASIC’s power to wind up abandoned companies – a drop in the ocean?
ASIC has revised its guidance on the exercise of its powers to order the winding up of an abandoned company, …
Government’s law reform of schemes of arrangement a “complete waste of resources when the core problem brewing is in the SME market”
Some may agree or not with the “blunt” submission of an Australian liquidator and trustee on the government’s review of …
Diversity and inclusion in insolvency
Diversity in the qualifications, experience, knowledge and abilities of those in the insolvency industry is the subject of this article, …
A recusal application dismissed; ALRC report on Judicial Impartiality awaited
Justice Steven Rares of the Federal Court of Australia has rejected an application to recuse himself from hearing a matter …
Small business insolvency advice via the Ombudsman
The federal government’s current focus on personal insolvency law reform coincides with Small Business Month in NSW and the Small …
“Voluntarily becoming bankrupt” – the new bankruptcy process
A person goes voluntarily bankrupt in Australia by completing an online “Bankruptcy Form” with the Official Receiver. What is now …
Deregistered / dissolved companies – let them be?
The UK Insolvency Service has been granted new investigative and disqualification powers to regulate directors who ‘dissolve’ (in Australian terms, …
Deregistered/dissolved companies – let them be?
The UK Insolvency Service has been granted new investigative and disqualification powers to regulate directors who ‘dissolve’ (in Australian terms, …
Insolvent insolvency practitioners?
An Australian insolvency industry body – ARITA – has suggested that the law should be changed to allow insolvency practitioners …
UK’s proposed single insolvency regulator – beware Australian comparisons [revised]
After some long period of deliberation, the UK government has decided to itself take a direct role in the regulation …
Australian bankruptcy statistics 2019-2021
Numbers of Australia’s 3 year long bankruptcies were down 46.7% in 2020-2021, producing an average dividend of only 1.63c/$. The …
Unconscionable and immoral corporate conduct – nothing personal
In imposing a $153 million penalty on a company already in liquidation, for its “deliberate and protracted unconscionable conduct of …
Any insolvency remuneration review as sought by ASIC “would be unprincipled and ultimately, wholly pointless”
From the opening paragraphs, one can foresee the outcome of this decision, about ASIC’s “unprincipled and pointless” intervention to deny …
High level of business bankruptcies in construction and retail
Latest figures show that nearly 60% of personal bankruptcies in the construction industry were involved in a business, with those …
Proposed New Zealand law restricting investigating accountants taking insolvency appointments
A bill introduced into the New Zealand parliament would mean that if ABC Insolvency Firm took a role as investigating …
Rethinking insolvency law – a follow up
We are pleased to see some further responses to our early ideas on reform of the structure of the insolvency …
High Court confirms principles of judicial independence
The High Court of Australia has found that social communications between a judge and a lawyer for a litigant in …
Electronic delivery of documents in bankruptcy and liquidation – continued
In my earlier comments trying to work out why we now have unharmonized drafting approaches and rules for electronic service …
UK insolvency practitioners – “evidence of intimidation, deception, dishonesty and even misappropriation of assets”?
A very critical report on the insolvency profession in the UK – Resolving-Insolvency-APPG-on-Fair-Business-Banking-and-Humphries-Kerstetter.pdf (appgbanking.org.uk) has come from the All Party …
Reinventing the Australian Insolvency System
At a seminar on 4 August 2021, Jason Harris and I presented our ideas on reform of the insolvency system …
Judicial impartiality report awaits the High Court decision in Charisteas – more dancing on pinheads
Following a recent Australian Law Reform Commission seminar – Impartiality from both sides of the Bench | ALRC – held …
