Cross-border and international

A pointless distinction in corporate insolvency

In the 19th century, where much corporate insolvency law thinking still remains, a distinction was made between court ordered liquidations ...

Review of Australia’s insolvency safe harbour – s 588GA

Australia’s ‘safe harbour’ regime under s 588GA is due for review, since September 2019, as to whether it offers the ...

Dangers in liquidators running a ‘skinny case’

” … it might not be seen to be unreasonable [for insolvency practitioners] to avoid expending funds producing affidavits in ...

All over a rooster

A bankrupt who claimed that noise attributed to her unauthorised rooster was in fact made by her peacock, which was ...

Special administration of an Aboriginal Corporation – Urapuntja Health

A major Aboriginal corporation in Australia’s Norther Territory – the Urapuntja Health Service Aboriginal Corporation – has been placed under ...

ARITA’s response to the Ombudsman’s small business insolvency inquiry

ARITA has offered a 60-page submission to the Ombudsman’s inquiry, which, given the quality of the inquiry, may be rather ...

A liquidator disciplinary decision – some regulatory insights

A decision of a tribunal in Australia gives some insight into the insolvency practitioner discipline processes introduced in 2017, which ...

Selfies of Australian insolvency practitioners – not looking good …?

A recent Australian academic thesis reveals an insolvency industry comprising practitioners with low self-identity, lacking in self-confidence and with a ...

The 2020 insolvency practitioner codes

New insolvency practitioner codes have issued in Australia, with the UK and NZ perhaps not far behind. It remains to ...

Ombudsman’s insolvency inquiry and the nature of small business debt

The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman has written a newspaper article about the ‘Insolvency Practices Inquiry’ in the ...

Bankrupt’s continued liability for costs

A court has refused parties’ request to retrospectively make an order for costs to avoid the consequences of a time ...

Insolvency R&B law reform ideas

While the ASBFE Ombudsman, ARITA and others are looking at insolvency law reform, including for SMEs, they will no doubt ...

Insolvency data sharing and access?

A number of academics, including myself, made a submission to the Data Commissioner’s Data Sharing and Release Legislative Reforms Discussion ...

Winding up a company for a $1,000 debt

” … the issue of proportionality between the amount of indebtedness and the deployment of an application to wind up ...

An insolvency safe harbour in New Zealand?

As Australia is about the review the first two years of operation of its 2017 safe harbour reforms,[1] New Zealand ...

Murrays Legal closes on 31 December 2019 and reopens on 1 January 2020

As to which, readers will be aware that “[t]he beginning of a day is nothing but the end of the ...

Why didn’t someone do something? the obligation to whistleblow

There is a current focus on whistleblowing as being one means whereby unlawfulness can be controlled. But what can be ...

Disclaimer of litigation funding agreement

While a trustee was ready to continue the bankrupt’s litigation claim, he was not willing to use the bankrupt’s litigation ...

Part 5.3A is not a device to escape payment, much less to protect directors from their misconduct

A deed of company arrangement (DOCA) was set aside despite 7 out of 8 creditors supporting it, and despite it ...

The Australian Academy of Law 2019 prizewinners

The Australian Academy of Law awards annual essay and other prizes. On 7 December 2019, the essay prize of $10,000 ...

Dealing with MSE insolvency – UNCCA Australia

Earlier in December 2019, LLM candidate and graduate lawyer Samantha Pacchiarotta and final year law student Cassandra Heaslip attended Insolvency ...

New Zealand insolvency – accrediting the professional bodies

Public consultation in New Zealand is now open on a discussion paper on the minimum standards and standard conditions for ...

Equitable fraud on creditors – bankruptcy composition set aside

Among several grounds for setting aside a composition between a bankrupt and his creditors under the Bankruptcy Act was ‘equitable ...

Small businesses and their financial difficulties – the Ombudsman’s inquiry

A discussion paper[1] issued on 20 December from the Insolvency Practices Inquiry of the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise ...