When the Rolling Stones cancelled not one but two Australian concerts in 2014, the ticket providers offered refunds to those concert ticket holders. But what about the cost of flights or accommodation?

Many small to medium sized businesses face disputes between shareholders.  Often these shareholders are family members.  Shareholder disputes are notoriously expensive to resolve and typically take the form of “oppression” claims commenced in the Supreme Court of Victoria under the provisions of s 233 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth).  Although individual disputes will differ, all these disputes have in common allegations that the affairs of a company have been conducted in an oppressive manner.

“If you’re contracting out, and the price seems too good to be true, someone’s probably getting ripped off. And if it turns out to be the workers, and it turns out you half knew that, then you are in danger yourself of having been involved in a contravention”

The coming of electronic conveyancing has been touted for over 10 years.  Initially planned to provide an online platform for conveyancing commencing with enquiry with an estate agent to final settlement, the reality is a more modest electronic settlement facility.  It will be the equivalent of the Australian Stock Exchange for property settlements.

I recently represented Harwood Andrews at an International Corporate Governance Forum focusing on mandatory gender quota legislation. The forum featured overseas representatives from The Netherlands, South Africa, Germany and Norway, as well as corporate representatives from Australia.

The Australian Law Reform Commission released a Discussion Paper, Serious Invasions of Privacy in the Digital Era which set out over 40 proposals for reform, including new causes of action for invasion of privacy.  A Summary Report has recently been published which recommends the adoption of a great many of those proposals.