Law reform

Litigation Funding in Insolvency and in Class Actions

This queries corporate insolvency’s requirement for approval of liquidators’ litigation funding in the context of an article comparing litigation funding ...

Insolvency law reform – and income contributions

A 1997 article about the need for data in insolvency law reform, rather than relying on assumptions and anecdotes unsupported ...

Insolvency practitioner remuneration – continued ….

A report in a daily newspaper[1] has commented on the large fees earner by liquidators and administrators in attending to ...

What is the future of insolvency practice?

In my reply to an interesting comment from a practitioner about the fundamental difficulties of lack of funding for insolvency ...

ASIC’s updated guidance on liquidator registration and discipline; AFSA; and the ART

ASIC has released updated regulatory guidance on statutory committee registration and discipline processes, and related issues: see Revised Regulatory Guide ...

Coercive control and insolvency

ASIC has asked registered liquidators to “stay alert” for signs of family and domestic violence when conducting insolvency administrations.[1]  ASIC ...

Personal insolvency figures up and ‘reforms’ pending

Personal insolvencies increased in July 2024, to 1157 compared with the lows of 851 in June 2024, and 929 in ...

ASIC’s civil penalty regime – an academic review

In the midst of a focus on the enforcement activity of ASIC following a critical Senate Committee report,[1] we have ...

ASIC’s revised guidance on insolvency practitioner offence reporting – RG 16

ASIC has issued revised guidance on insolvency practitioner offence reporting obligations – RG 16 External administrators and controllers: Reporting of ...

Insolvency numbers in decline

Numbers of insolvencies of individuals and companies have fallen dramatically over the years, which we may find represents a fundamental ...

Splitting ASIC 2024 and the 2010 Senate Committee Report

In the discussions about separating ASIC’s tasks following the July 2024 Senate Economics References Committee report – Australian Securities and ...

Some proposed personal insolvency reforms in Australia

With the federal government yet to respond to the PJC Report on corporate insolvency of July 2023, which recommended a ...

Senate report on ASIC’s investigation and enforcement roles – July 2024

The Senate Economics References Committee has issued its Report – Australian Securities and Investments Commission – investigation and enforcement, of ...

The 2023 Parliamentary Joint Committee Report and insolvency law reform?

While the federal government is yet to give its response to the PJC Report on Corporate Insolvency of July 2023, ...

Insolvency law terms – what do they mean?

While insolvency law uses many and varied terms to describe its various processes for dealing with an insolvent business, no ...

Insolvency law’s elephants in the room

Professor Jason Harris and I will be presenting a session at INSOL Academics Colloquium in San Diego USA on 22 ...

ASIC’s review of offence reporting – RG 16

In response to the PJC Report, although a bit premature, ASIC is reviewing its RG 16, on offence reporting obligations, ...

Bankruptcy and mental ill health

Justice John Logan of the Federal Court has raised some interesting issues in an otherwise straightforward bankruptcy judgment concerning the ...

Small business sole trader insolvencies

A recent newspaper report on the trend of insolvencies in small business was interesting for the reason that it acknowledged ...

AFCA financial compensation scheme of last resort

The federal government has announced [1] that a compensation scheme for victims of financial services misconduct will start from 2 ...

Report on the Franchising Code of Conduct – and insolvent franchisors

Further to my comments of September 2023 below as to a review of the franchising code of conduct, that review ...

New corporate definitions of director, officer and asset

Following the ALRC’s work on Ch 7 of the Corporations Act, attention has already been given to legislative changes tidying ...

Corporations Act redrafting – ch 5?

Some years ago, I suggested to a Treasury officer that Ch 5 of the Corporations Act be redrafted and simplified.  ...

The new Administrative Review Tribunal and law for the relief of insolvent debtors

On 7 December 2023, the government introduced legislation that would abolish the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) and establish what it ...