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 see whether the codes are…
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 context of the impact of…
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 limitation in bankruptcy. An order…
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 consider some root and branch…
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 Paper in late 2019. One…
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 a debtor company is one…
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 is looking at introducing the…
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 day before, and the end…
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 a voluntary and sometimes difficult…
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 funder with its premium of…
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 offering more to creditors than…
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 was awarded to Dr Ellen…
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 Working Group V's 56th session…
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 the accreditation of professional bodies[1]…
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 fraud'. It had emerged in…
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 Ombudsman examines the financial difficulties…
Boensch v Pascoe – High Court’s decision
The seven member bench of the High Court which heard Boensch v Pascoe on 11 October 2019 has unanimously dismissed Boensch’s appeal [Boensch v Pascoe…
Halifax – no reason why the NZ High Court should not physically sit in Australia …
The on-going matter of the Halifax liquidation came before Justice Jacqueline Gleeson in the Federal Court of Australia (FCA) on 18 December 2019, and jointly,…