Cross-border and international
Insolvency Law Bulletin – penalties, phoenix & preferences, franchises & offence reports
The latest issue of the Insolvency Law Bulletin (2019) 20(4&5) covers some very topical issues. The Halifax Investment Services matter ...
Australia’s Official Receiver (in corporate insolvency)
Australia adopted much of English corporate law at the beginning of the 20th century but one thing it did not ...
Breaking a bankruptcy monopoly in New Zealand
There are moves in NZ to break the monopoly of the Official Assignee in personal insolvency by allowing private insolvency ...
New Zealand – corporate insolvency practitioner regulation
The New Zealand government has called for submissions on the proposed minimum standards and conditions for the licensing of insolvency ...
Corporate phoenixing – a crime?
The Australian Law Reform Commission has released a Discussion Paper addressing a number of aspects of its reference on corporate ...
New Zealand insolvency reform – half a gift card
The New Zealand government has decided to give consumers with unclaimed gift cards issued by a failed business a priority ...
Cross-border insolvency – the Canberra session
I was pleased to have been involved with others in giving a presentation on UN Day 24 October 2019 to ...
Insolvency developments in the 2018-19 annual reports – ASIC, AFSA, AGD and ATO
Annual reports nowadays are more marketing publications as to various achievements of the relevant agencies and their compliance with statutory ...
Fair Entitlements Guarantee – powers to demand information
The Department of Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business’ Annual Report 2018-2019 provides some information about the Fair Entitlements Guarantee ...
A bankrupt and ‘one rooster, one peacock, three ducks, and 22 chickens …’
A person’s bankruptcy can arise from a host of circumstances, disputes with neighbours and non-compliance with local council requirements being ...
Small business insolvency – the Ombudsman inquiry
The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman has established an inquiry into “the insolvency system” to report by February ...
Do old emails ever die?
A respondent car hire company being sued by the ACCC for unconscionable conduct has claimed that what the ACCC alleges ...
A trustee’s interest in a bankrupt’s interest in trust property – Boensch v Pascoe
A seven member bench of the High Court was convened for the hearing in Boensch v Pascoe on 11 October ...
The evolution of bankruptcy and insolvency laws and the case of the deed of company arrangement
This is a thoughtful and instructive article on the process of the historical development of the bankruptcy and insolvency laws ...
NZ insolvency practitioner costs recovery fees
The New Zealand government has released a discussion paper on proposed regulations concerning fees and other arrangements in preparation for ...
‘A good idea’ – assignment of a liquidator’s recovery rights
A liquidator has transferred, with court approval, potential recovery claims to the ATO, as the major and only creditor in ...
Regulation of Australian insolvency practitioners – UK and NZ compared
I am pleased to be soon presenting to various groups on the regulation of Australian insolvency practitioners, with some comparisons ...
International Association of Insolvency Regulators’ Conference – 2019
Australia is attending and presenting at the annual insolvency regulators’ conference, along with regulators from the UK, the US, New ...
A liquidator found liable for breach of confidence and invasion of privacy
“To say there is bad blood between David Henderson and Robert Walker is an understatement. From the time Robert Walker ...
Flying low – an airline’s ‘extraordinary’ response to a $19m penalty
A major international airline turned up to court to seek a stay of a A$19m penalty with evidence so inadequate ...
International insolvency law and Australia’s UNCCA
A newly qualified Australian lawyer who was sponsored through UNCCA and LAWASIA to attend Insolvency Working Group V in Vienna ...
“Shortcomings of the Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency (just some)”
Professor Martin Davies of Tulane Maritime Law Center recently offered a critique of the Model Law on Cross Border Insolvency ...
NZ’s 2019 Insolvency Practitioners Regulation Act and its cross-Tasman impact
NZ’s Insolvency Practitioners Regulation Act is due to commence over the next year introducing a licensing and regulatory regime for ...
‘Your place or mine, and for how long?’ – a lack of judicial independence
We might have noticed that courts in Australia and indeed in most comparable countries are usually housed in their own ...