Cross-border and international
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 …
Corporate Collective Investment Vehicles
The government is consulting on a Bill in line with what it says is its commitment “to establishing a commercially viable …
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 …
Australian personal insolvency and small business reform in the wake of Covid
An overseas publisher has asked me to give an update on the latest in small business bankruptcy law in Australia, …
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 …
Australia’s review of its insolvency safe harbour – more than a few issues to consider, but in the end, about not much
The terms of reference and what is called a ‘discussion paper’[1] for this review under s 588HA have been released, …
Objections to a bankrupt’s 3 year discharge in Australia – mixed messages and unfair law
Apart from Australian law imposing a long period for a person to be subject to the restrictions and stigma of …
You call that a lockdown? Australia’s bankruptcy laws
If those in small business think the lockdowns are tough, for weeks or even months at a time, the government …
ASIC’s corporate plan, and the 27 August hearing before the PJC
With ASIC having appeared before the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services on 27 August 2021, ASIC’s Corporate …
Review of Australia’s safe harbour protection from insolvent trading – remember s 588HA [updated]
The federal government has finally made arrangements to have Australia’s “safe harbour” from insolvent trading law reviewed – s 588GA, …
Fees of insolvency practitioners and lawyers
After Jason Harris and I wrote about Justice Michael Lee’s comments on the high charge out rates of insolvency practitioners, …
What do creditors get from ‘successful’ recovery actions by insolvency practitioners?
A Judge has ordered that Trustees in bankruptcy file “evidence that identifies the benefits the creditors of the bankrupt estate …
Cleaning up after failed oil and mining operations – new New Zealand laws, and other ideas
The cost of environmental clean-up of mining and other resource projects where the company has gone into liquidation is a …
The contributions of bankruptcy trustees to AFSA’s regulation of criminal conduct
Bankruptcy trustees, and liquidators, and creditors in insolvencies, contribute much to the government, in effect for free. In a recent …
Bankruptcy – transfer of files from the Official Receiver to private registered trustees, with 20% to women
Australia’s AFSA has announced that since 29 July 2021, it has changed the way it allocates bankrupt estates to bankruptcy …
The high cost of ASIC’s regulation of liquidators, in a deregulatory environment
The proposed annual ASIC ‘industry levies’ imposed on liquidators in Australia, to fund the cost of their regulation, prompts this …
Assigning bankruptcy claims to a former trustee
A 5 day bankruptcy hearing was cancelled in March 2021, in relation to matters occurring in 2012, being challenged in …
Winding up Forum Finance
In ordering that liquidators be appointed to Forum Finance Pty Ltd on 9 July 2021, the Federal Court explained the …
Insolvency practitioner charge-out rates – the cost of carrying the State
In making a winding up order against Forum Finance,[1] Justice Michael Lee made this comment about the hourly fees of …
Employees’ redundancy rights on the insolvency of their employer
There are now a number of decisions from the Administrative Appeals Tribunal reviewing decisions of the Fair Entitlements Guarantee where …
Cross-border insolvency protection of a ship on its way to Australia
An Italian shipping company – Michele Bottiglieri Armatore SpA – which is subject to Italian restructuring protection, a concordato preventivo …
The insolvency rule in ex parte James – another in a series of cases ‘dancing on pinheads’
A trustee in bankruptcy in England rejected a £5.7m proof of debt lodged by the revenue authority [HMRC][1] on what …
