Advanced Commercial Litigation Conference
Issues covered include: Directors, Officers and Corporate Litigation, Hayne Royal Commission, Defamation, Creditors, Insolvency Law Reform, ipso facto, Insolvency Law Reform Act 2016, Trusts Minority Shareholder Disputes with a Corporate Trustee, Mental Health, Contingency Fees, Litigation Funding and Class Actions, Ethical Professional Conduct.
Description
Join our panel of experts to broaden and sharpen your knowledge with in-depth and high level analysis of the latest trends and hottest topics for commercial litigators. Join the ranks of the litigating elite by spending a day examining commercial litigation updates, strategies and techniques and gain your core CPD points all while acquiring the tools necessary to advance your litigation skills.
Attend and earn 7 CPD units including:
4 units in Substantive Law
1 unit in Ethics & Professional Responsibility
1 unit in Practice Management & Business Skills
1 unit in Professional Skills
This conference was recorded in VIC on 22 March 2019
Session 1
Commercial Litigation Hot Spots
Chair: Christiana McCudden, Partner, Disputes + Investigations Group, Gilbert + Tobin
9.00am to 10.00am: Directors, Officers and Corporate Litigation Update: What Your Commercial Clients Need you to Know
- Hayne Royal Commission: its ramifications for corporate officers outside financial services
- What can be caught in litigation through the prohibition on provision of financial assistance to acquire shares?
- What pitfalls might result in exposure to liability?
- How exposure to, and extent of liability, might be contained
- So is the path of today's directors more hazardous?
- If so, how and in what respects?
Presented by Dr Steven Stern, Barrister, List S Svenson Barristers; Adjunct Professor, College of Law & Justice, Victoria University
10.00am to 11.00am: Defamation Update: Is the Australian Defamation Law Now a Multi-Million Dollar Game of Roulette?
- Recent defamation case overview
- Awards for and against celebrities (Rebel Wilson, Alan Jones) in cases like Wilson v Bauer Media; Jones & Anor v Aussie Networks have involved multi-million dollar judgments: Is this the new normal?
- Understanding how these judgments have broken the statutory cap
- What is the impact of the High Court decision in Trkulja v Google?
- Understand how these decisions can be used to better advise your clients in smaller matters
Presented by Evelyn Tadros, Barrister, Youngs List
11.00am to 11.15am Morning Tea
11.15am to 12.15pm: Creditors in Control: Insolvency Law Reform and the Increased Rights of Creditors in External Administrations
- Recent ipso facto law reforms
- The ways in which creditors can influence the conduct of external administrations
- What rights are afforded to creditors under the Insolvency Law Reform Act 2016?
- The role of creditors in insolvency litigation
Presented by Marelda Hibberd, Partner, Maddocks; Recommended Commercial Litigation & Dispute Resolution Lawyer and Recommended Insolvency & Restructuring Lawyer, Doyle’s Guide 2018; Best Lawyers 2019, Insolvency and Reorganization Law
12.15pm to 1.15pm: Trusts: Minority Shareholder Disputes with a Corporate Trustee – Can the Oppression Remedy Assist? Is the Landscape Changing?
One of the busiest lists in the Supreme Court is the Corporations List, which manages approximately 2500 oppression cases annually. Almost all claims seeking relief from oppression under section 233 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) relate to small and family businesses.
- Are remedies for oppression in the Corporations Act available for small and family business that operate though a trust structure?
- What other options are available to disputing parties in a trust dispute?
Presented by Alexandra Tighe, Partner, Holding Redlich; Recommended Commercial Litigation & Dispute Resolution Lawyer, Doyle’s Guide 2018
Session 2
CPD Compulsory Units For Litigators
Chair: Kimberley MacKay, Partner, Holding Redlich
Practice Management & Business Skills
2.00pm to 3.00pm: Managing Mental Health for Commercial Litigators
Litigators responsibilities can be demanding and may cause unwarranted effect and changes on your well-being, some of which can easily be overlooked. We shall cover:
- Pressure, performance and mental health
- Mental health vs mental illness?
- What are the warning signs?
- When and how do we assist ourselves and others to get support?
- How do we look after our own mental health?
Presented by Janet Hopkins, General Manager, Mindful Employer
Professional Skills
3.00pm to 4.00pm: Contingency Fees, Litigation Funding and Class Actions
- Litigation funding
- Common fund orders
- Recent cases
- Law reform proposals: an overview of the ALRC and VLRC recommendations
- Implications of funding developments for commercial litigation practitioners; updating your practice, procedure and skills
Presented by Ben Phi, Managing Director, Phi Finney McDonald; Leading Commercial Litigation & Dispute Resolution Lawyer, Doyle’s Guide 2018
4.00pm to 4.15pm Afternoon Tea
Ethics & Professional Responsibility
4.15pm to 5.15pm: Ethical Professional Conduct in the Legal Profession
- Duties to the Court
- Higher duties
- Duties to the client
- Duties to other lawyers
- Duties to witnesses
- Duties to the firm, company, employer
Presented by Christopher Dale, Senior Counsel, O’Donnell Salzano Lawyers and former President of the Law Institute of Victoria