Corporate + Commercial
Watch your Standards! $50 million Penalties for Unfair Small Business Contracts
A year ago, the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) was amended to introduce eye-watering financial penalties for standard form contracts that are...
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The PwC Cautionary Tale – Reminders for Handling Sensitive Commercial Information
The recent unauthorised disclosure of inside government information by PwC partners shocked and infuriated the federal Government, and has been...
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Corporate + Commercial
SAFE Notes: Are these Once Strange Things Suitable For Your Next Investment?
Once regarded as one of the investment community’s ‘stranger things’, SAFE Notes occupy the twilight zone between the usual binary alternatives...
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Directors IDs: Just how personal is this 15-digit identifier?
Nearly 2.7 million Australian Directors have submitted their personal information to the Australian Business Registry Service to apply for a Director...
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Huge Fines for Businesses with Unfair Terms
With effect from 9 November 2022, new laws came into effect which amended the Australian Consumer Law to introduce very serious penalties for...
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Corporate Law+ | Sign of the Times – E-Signing is Here to Stay
As the growth of the Metaverse and Web 3.0 continues to influence how we live and work today, and our expectations for tomorrow, the impact of...
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Corporate Law+ | Attention All Company Directors – Get Your Mandatory Director ID Number in 5 minutes
All directors of Australian companies must hold a Director Identification Number (DIN) or risk prosecution by ASIC. Below we simplify the process for...
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Can an A.I. Machine be an Inventor for Patent Registration?
Whether an AI machine can be recognised as an inventor for patent registration purposes raises fascinating legal and social anthropological...
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Corporate Law+ | Electronic Signing – How to Validly Use Cloud Based Platforms
While data and privacy concerns slowed the initial widespread adoption of e-signatures, attitudes have drastically changed towards e-signing and...
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Corporate Law+ | New Directors Must Now Get a Director ID Before Appointment
Prospective company directors are now legally required to apply for a Director Identification Number before they are appointed. The consequences of...
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Corporate Law+ | Company Directors set to get IDs from New Government Watchdog
Australian Company directors will soon be required to verify their identity with a recently formed Government Registrar by applying for a...
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Corporate Law+ | More Evidence of the End For Wet Ink? Victoria Becomes First State to Make Pandemic Reforms Permanent
Victoria has solidified its contemporary stance on electronic signatures and made its pandemic reforms permanent. In this article, we provide an...
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Corporate Law+ | The Return of E-Signatures: Updates to the Corporations Act under the 2021 COVID-19 lockdowns
Highly anticipated corporate law reforms have finally been implemented. In this article, we provide an insight into what the changes are, how they...
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COVID-19+ | Temporary Pandemic Relief Gives Way To Australia’s Most Significant Insolvency Reforms in 30 Years
Despite the expiry of the COVID-19 relief measures, small businesses continue to struggle with the economic challenges created by the pandemic....
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COVID-19+ | Corporate Reform in the Age of COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused widespread disruption in social and business life on a worldwide basis. Amongst what many regard as positive...
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COVID-19+ | Regulating the Modernisation of Corporate Governance in a Socially Distant World
The social distancing measures introduced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have disrupted much of our way of life in the last few months. In the...
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The Rise and Rise of IP – How to Protect and Leverage Intangible Assets
Intellectual Property (‘IP’) is the most important asset class for modern businesses today, accounting for almost 90% of a...
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COVID-19+ Emergency Guide for Australian Businesses (15 May 2020 Update)
As the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic causes health and social impacts on a previously almost unfathomable scale, for businesses too it is a...
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COVID-19+ Update on National Cabinet’s Landscape-Shifting Commercial Leasing Code
On 7 April 2020 National Cabinet announced a mandatory code (‘Code’) for commercial leases of small and medium sized Australian business...
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COVID-19+ What Government Grants can SMEs piggy-bank?
In the last few months, COVID-19 has disrupted tens of thousands of businesses across the country, from large listed conglomerates to sole traders...
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COVID-19+ Emergency Guide for Australian Businesses (17 April 2020 Update)
As the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic causes health and social impacts on a previously almost unfathomable scale, for businesses too it is a...
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COVID-19+ Newsflash! – National Cabinet unveils ground-breaking Commercial Leasing Code for SMEs
Under growing pressure to respond to the COVID-19 crisis, on 7 April 2020 National Cabinet announced a mandatory code for commercial lease tenancies...
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COVID-19+ Fed Govt’s $130B ‘JobKeeper’ Program
On 30 March 2020, the Government announced $130 Billion in the budget with the goal of keeping workers in jobs over the next six months. This article...
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COVID-19+ ‘Stay at Home’ laws set to profoundly impact commercial offices
New laws mean that people in New South Wales must not leave their homes without ‘reasonable excuse’. A reasonable excuse is not...
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COVID-19+ Emergency Guide for Australian Businesses
As the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic causes health and social impacts on a previously almost unfathomable scale, for businesses too it is a...
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New Laws make Directors Personally Liable for GST Debts
The Senate has recently passed an act which confers personal liability on directors for their company’s unpaid GST...
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Neobanks: Can They Challenge the Big 4?
‘Neobanks’, also known as ‘digital banks’ and ‘challenger banks’, are terms which synonymously refer to the next...
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New Whistleblower Policy: 10 Key Points To Note!
All public companies have until 1 January 2020 to comply with the new whistleblower policy requirements. This requirement carries a $126,000 (body...
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Corporate Law Update: High Court Sounds a Warning to Directors Providing Financial Assistance to Shareholders
Following a recent High Court case, companies should be aware of adopting too narrow an interpretation of the “financial assistance” provisions...
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Handle with care: owner drivers get new protections
Amendments to the Owner Drivers and Forestry Contractors Act create new protections for gig economy workers transporting...
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The Power of the Platform: ACCC Takes Aim at Facebook & Google
In June 2019, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (‘ACCC’) released its’ final report from the Digital Platforms Inquiry...
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IP Rights Holders beware! Changes to Competition Laws
The repeal of the so-called “IP exemption” from the Competition and Consumer Act could significantly impact commercial dealings in IP rights....
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Blocking the exits: Directors’ rights to decline share transfers
Under Australian law, directors of companies typically have unilateral powers to reject transfers of shares by shareholders. However, below we...
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Get your records straight! ASIC record-keeping obligations and penalties
Officers have legal obligations under Australian law to keep information on ASIC registers up to...
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Your freelancer has arrived: Australian Uber drivers held not employees
In much-publicised proceedings, the Fair Work Ombudsman has found that Uber drivers are independent...
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Contractual lock-in? Terminating contracts without a clause
Contracts form the backbone of almost all commercial arrangements, binding parties to perform their specified duties. But when does a breach or...
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Insolvent trading and the position of Australian directors
Under Australian law, board directors have a duty to prevent insolvent trading by corporations. Though certain exceptions may apply, failure to do so...
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Illegal phoenix activity targeted by new corporate law reforms
New reforms currently before Parliament seeks to give the Phoenix Taskforce more power to prevent illegal...
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Creating a modern commercial law firm and a healthy workplace
In this podcast, James is interviewed by Beyond Billables about the ideas behind Edwards + Co...
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An update on open banking in Australia
Proposed changes to the Consumer Data Rights (‘CDRs’) to facilitate open banking are another example of the consumer protectionist...
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Are e-signatures valid under Australian Law?
A great strength for modern businesses is being able to negotiate and strike deals quickly and efficiently over the internet. Once they’re...
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