Rethinking insolvency law
We are pleased to see some further responses to our early ideas on reform of the structure of the insolvency system. These were presented at…
Sole traders and insolvency
A report on the financial business health of Australian small business takes the novel approach of looking at sole traders. Behind that positive image of…
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 trusts a satisfactory vehicle to…
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 a matter that the judge…
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 of insolvency documents, depending on…
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 regime for corporate collective investment…
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 in Australia, which we have…
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, for a comparative article, the…
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 on 19 July 2021, the…
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, although the intention of the…
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 bankruptcy, of 3 years, it…
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 has a much longer lockdown…
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, introduced in September 2017. But…
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, I then started to receive…
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 are likely to receive if…
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 live issue in Australia, with…
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 disciplinary decision, the Sydney…
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 a 2014 bankruptcy by way…