Cross-border and international
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 ...
Is it relevant outside Canberra whether a law is within or without Treasury’s portfolio?
With the government’s Treasury department busily introducing changes to the law to allow virtual meeting technology (VMT) for corporate liquidations, ...
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 ...
Australian MSME insolvency law reform
Australian lawyers are presently represented at an international gathering of experts to address the need for particular insolvency laws for ...
Unconscionable and immoral corporate conduct – nothing personal
In imposing a $153 million penalty on the Australian Institute of Professional Education, already in liquidation, for its “deliberate and ...
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 ...
Do our insolvency laws suit small business failures?
In shopping for a suit recently, I noticed that the Big Store displayed its suits according to brand, which apparently ...
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 ...
An insolvency law reform inquiry? first things first….
The prospect of an inquiry into insolvency law was raised in a recent speech by the chair of the Australian ...
Insolvency Law Bulletin – October 2021 – Halifax, Arrium, MSME insolvency, letters of comfort, and (discretionary) trusts
The latest Insolvency Law Bulletin is out with a range of articles covering current and on-going issues in insolvency law ...
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 ...
Sole traders and insolvency
A report on the financial business health of Australian small business takes the novel approach of looking at sole traders. ...
Trust law and insolvency – views of the NSW Chief Justice; law reform prospects
A paper given by the NSW Chief Justice, Tom Bathurst – ‘Commercial trusts and the liability of beneficiaries: are commercial ...
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 ...