In ASIC v Rich Justice Austin provides the first comprehensive judicial analysis of the statutory business judgment defence in s 180(2). The judgment addresses important, mostly unanswered, questions for directors and officers around the use of the business judgment defence: What is a business...

If the global credit collapse as 'a crisis is too important to waste', then 12 years is too long? The Government needs to have the courage to risk the consequence of a wide ranging inquiry and immediately issue wide ranging terms of reference for a “son of Wallis” to dovetail with...

In a more democratised equity ownership model, ought vote selling be outlawed on ‘public policy' grounds or would such a ban limit legitimate transactions. The paper suggests that there is no need to change the Australian legislative environment to accomodate some limited examples of aberrant...

The Citigroup case suggests that the law will protect investment firms operating multiple businesses from claims of breach of fiduciary duty and insider trading provided that sufficient safeguards are maintained

There has been a great deal of confusion about the ability of modern corporations to act according to public ethical and social concerns and their relationship to 'the business of business'. This article seeks to explore the theoretical underpinnings for the duties of directors and officers and...

The Final Report and recommendations of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry, led by the Hon Kenneth Hayne AC QC, was published on 4 February 2019. The Commonwealth Government's response: highlighting the actions it will take in...

Australia has one of the most highly securitised property markets in the world. Australian inventiveness and sophistication has led to a wide array of securitised property products being offered to investors. This paper looks at some of the features of Australian Real Estate Investment Trusts...

We suggest that the Commission's recommendations can be made ‘organisation ready' if the ethical culture is developed in a way that is consistent with internationally recognized human rights norms. Human rights remove some of the subjective element from ethics and replace it with...