Substantive Law

The regulatory landscape has changed dramatically in recent times, with regulators such as ASIC spearheading civil and criminal proceedings against individuals in order to compel cultural change within corporate Australia. ASIC’s commitment to the “why not litigate” approach since the Financial Services Royal Commission is accompanied by increased civil and criminal penalties for companies and their directors and officers and a substantial uplift in funding.  In recent months, the ACCC has been successful in securing large Court ordered penalties against individual directors for their role in breaches of the Australian Consumer Law.

In light of this unprecedented regulator activism and focus on the liability of individuals, ensuring effective awareness, co-operation and compliance with the laws governing your business has never been more important.

This webinar, presented by Gilbert + Tobin’s award-winning Disputes + Investigations team, will cover:

• recent trends and developments regarding individual liability in the Australian regulatory landscape and abroad;
• recent decisions involving civil and criminal liability for individuals including directors and officers;
• the review by the Australian Law Reform Commission into the corporate criminal responsibility regime and other proposed law reform; and
• practical considerations for an in-house legal team.

If your company/organisation is deemed to be a competitor of the host organisation for this event, you may be excluded from attending this event. If you believe there may be a conflict or are uncertain, please enquire with ACC Australia.

In this session, Baker McKenzie Partner, Toby Patten, and Special Counsel, Caitlin Whale, will cover the law and provide practical tips for drafting and negotiating limitations of liability.

Non-financial risks can inflict a devastating financial impact on a company.  ASIC and other key regulators are seeking to hold corporates to account for failing to exercise active stewardship of non-financial risk. Australian directors and senior executives are increasingly alive to these risks in the wake of COVID-19.

Join Gilbert + Tobin’s market-leading experts David Clee and Elizabeth Hill for a live webinar on board oversight and monitoring of non-financial risks.

This webinar will explore:

• the different types of non-financial risk;
• the impact of failing to oversee and monitor non-financial risk;
• the roles and responsibilities of directors and officers having regard to the observations made by ASIC’s Corporate Governance Task Force on the board’s role in the oversight and management of non-financial risk;
• the attitude of other key regulators, including APRA and AUSTRAC; and
• market changes and international observations.

As COVID-19 continues to pose  significant challenges to most sectors of the economy, Baker McKenzie Partners Adrian Lawrence and Aleisa Crepin take a look at key contractual provisions and  doctrines relevant to disrupted commercial dealings, including:

• provisions dealing with delay in performance and the allocation of economic  burdens in the case of such delay;
• termination of commercial contracts due to force majeure or frustration;
• other contractual provisions such as stop payments, step-in rights and MAC clauses; and
• considerations for renegotiation of contracts in the light of continuing  COVID-19 disruptions.

Join Madgwicks' Special Counsel Tim Greenall and Senior Associate Sasha Roberts explain the impact of COVID-19 on employment law.

Chaired by Tax Partner Philip Diviny, this session will cover:
-             What you need to know about the JobKeeper payment
-             New stand down powers under Fair Work
-             Variations to Modern Awards
-             Impact on Enterprise Agreements
-             Working from home – the new workplace

Please note this event has sold out - if you would like to receive a receive a recording of the live broadcast please contact ausevents@accglobal.com. 

Directors are subject to key duties in carrying out their role. Knowing about those duties and how to effectively discharge them is at the heart of good corporate governance.  In this seminar we will consider the key statutory duties of directors and gain an understanding of the consequences of breaching those duties, by looking at how the court has dealt with particular cases in recent years.  

Edward Muston SC will also take a look into Directors personal liability in the following areas: taxation and superannuation debts, work health and safety law breaches, and environmental law breaches.

Employers are increasingly faced with the challenges of keeping employees “safe” in terms of their mental health and also dealing with the consequences of employees’ mental health challenges in regard to performance and conduct.

With increased penalties in many jurisdictions and model legislation highlighting director and officer individual responsibility, the issues are more important than ever. In the current climate of vast numbers of employees working from home and in a heightened state of anxiety about world events and job security, employers face a very difficult task.

Join Piper Alderman's Erin McCarthy and their national employment relations team for webinar dealing with these issues and in particular:

The law:

• Work health and safety obligations to minimise or eliminate risks to mental health in the workplace;
• When and how the workplace extends to the home, and managing the unusual risks of remote working;
• Assessing capacity and when an employee may not be mentally “fit” for the inherent requirements of the job;
• The interplay between mental health and performance/misconduct concerns – what the Fair Work Commission has said about procedural fairness and mental health;
• Compensability of stress claims under the various state and territory workers compensation schemes; and
• Industrial manslaughter and deaths by suicide where there may be workplace risks to mental health

The practical issues:

• Signs to look out for that an employee may have compromised mental health
• Having difficult conversations with employees who have mental health issues or may be under significant stress and anxiety
• When you may be ‘on notice’ of a risk but not have recognised it;
• Managing mental health while employees are working remotely including domestic violence; and
• What will you point to as a measure implemented to manage mental health risks?

Businesses are operating in an increasingly complex and high stakes regulatory environment. With the ACCC’s role expanding and penalties increasing, scrutiny has never been more intense.  At the same time, many of the provisions of the ­Competition and Consumer Law Act require thought and some sophistication to ensure compliance. 

Join our competition experts Susan Jones and Jeremy Jose for a live webinar that will provide an update on current issues in competition law including:

• the ACCC’s enforcement activity and priorities;
• concerted practices (including information sharing, industry associations and pricing algorithms); and
• gun jumping.

This webinar will also provide you with some practical suggestions for assessing and mitigating competition law risk within your organisation.

If your company/organisation is deemed to be a competitor of the host organisation for this event, you may be excluded from attending this event. If you believe there may be a conflict or are uncertain, please enquire with ACC Australia.

NSW Members - this event will also be run as a face to face event later in the year.

Beyond Compliance: Coronavirus, ESG, and the Redefining of Risk Management

The outbreak of the coronavirus has upended business worldwide and created an entirely new risk paradigm for companies with an international profile.

Prior to COVID-19, firms were already contending with unfamiliar regulatory, ESG, technological, and geopolitical challenges. Today, as firms plan for an even more uncertain future, what are the key reputational, stakeholder, and political risk issues that should be top of mind for corporate counsel? 

Veracity Worldwide Asia-Pacific Director, Benjamin Weiss, will survey the new frontier of risk and offer strategies to help you and your business navigate them.

The global pandemic and shutdown is the gravest challenge to Australian business. Issues of recent days will play out over the coming years. Amidst tremendous uncertainty, careful consideration must now be taken and cool heads must prevail.

Contracts and business relationships will be tested, in many cases beyond their limits.

Piper Alderman is guiding its clients through issues such as contracts, employment, corporate recovery and insolvency all of which hold deep and long-term consequences.

Join Piper Alderman's webinar as they provide practical insights and real world solutions in the areas of:

Tim Lange – Employment & Workplace Issues: stand-downs, termination, redundancy and working from home;

Ted Williams – Contract Law: contract reliefs and risks in terms of delay, force majeure, changes in law, delay, termination events and how contracting parties might frame discussions to ensure delivery and achieve workable commercial outcomes;

Michael Lhuede – Insolvency and Director Responsibilities: Review of the Parliament’s COVID 19 Emergency Response Measures, residual director responsibilities, debt moratoriums and voluntary administration;

Andrew Rankin – Issues for public companies, including ASX-listed companies.