Commercial Litigation: The Next Wave of Risk and Claims
The risks & claims shaping the commercial litigation landscape are rapidly evolving & this is your opportunity to gain the high level updates & practical strategies commercial litigators need to stay ahead of the curve. Explore the latest in climate change litigation, insurance disputes, competition & consumer law claims, defamation, shareholder litigation, business sale disputes, & valuation. Gain your core CPD points while analysing settlements, privilege, disclosure, technology & document review. 223N19
Description
Attend and earn 7 CPD units including:
3.5 units in Substantive Law
1 unit in Ethics & Professional Responsibility
1 unit in Practice Management & Business Skills
1.5 units in Professional Skills
This program is applicable to practitioners from all States & Territories
Session 1
The Key Developments in Commercial Litigation in 2022
Chair: Vera Culkoff, Barrister, 2nd Floor Selborne Chambers
9.00am to 9.05am Opening Comments by the Chair
9.05am to 9.50am Climate Change Litigation: Financial Risks for Companies, Directors and Super Trustees
- The evolution of climate change from an environmental to a financial risk
- The latest generation of climate change litigation & the main types of claims
- Failure to disclose/inadequate disclosure of climate change risks
- Company and director disclosure obligations & how to disclose material climate change risks
- Rundown of potential breaches of disclosure obligations
- Case examples
- Breach of duties by directors and super trustees by failing to consider and integrate climate change risk into risk management and strategy
- Key director and super trustees’ duties which are engaged in respect of climate change
- Potential breaches of director’s duties related to climate change
- Case examples
- Misleading and deceptive conduct/misrepresentations
- Breakdown of misleading & deceptive conduct by companies or by directors
- Greenwashing
- Case examples
- What’s coming? The next wave of climate litigation & risks for companies and directors
Presented by Anna Gudkov, Senior Lawyer, Safe Climate (Corporate and Gas) Team, Environmental Defenders Office
9.50am to 10.35am Insurance Litigation in the Federal Court
- The Federal Court Insurance List: Who goes there?
- The life insurers and the duty of good faith: Has the Federal Court finally outlawed retrospective underwriting and similar questionable practices?
- COVID-19 and Insurance in the Federal Court
Presented by Dr Tim Channon, Special Counsel, Barry.Nilsson. Lawyers; Accredited Specialist in Commercial Litigation
10.35am to 10.50am Morning Tea
10.50am to 11.35am Navigating Increasingly Frequent & Wide Reaching ACCC Investigations & Prosecutions
- ACCC investigatory powers and managing responses to investigations
- ACCC's armoury of enforcement alternatives and implications for business
- Large increases in penalties (and other remedies) for both competition law and consumer law prosecutions
Presented by Ayman Guirguis, Partner, K&L Gates; Best Lawyers 2022, Competition Law
11.35am to 12.20pm Defamation and Social Media Litigation in 2022
- Online defamation: the state of play
- Stage 2 of the defamation reforms: where things stand
- Risks for organisations maintaining a social media page allowing comments on the organisation’s posts
- Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd v Voller (S236/2020); Nationwide News Pty Limited v Voller (S237/2020); Australian News Channel Pty Ltd v Voller [2021] HCA 27
- Additional litigation risks and trends related to defamation and social media
Presented by Sophie Dawson, Partner; Member of Executive Committee, Communications and Media Law Association; Best Lawyers 2022, Defamation & Media Law, Information Technology Law, Litigation, Privacy & Data Security Law, & Telecommunications Law; Leading Technology, Media & Telecommunications Lawyer, Doyle’s Guide 2021 & Recommended Contentious Intellectual Property Lawyer, Doyle’s Guide 2020, and Joel Parsons, Associate, Bird & Bird
Professional Skills
12.20pm to 1.05pm Loss and Damage Quantification Issues in Shareholder Disputes and Business Sale Disputes
- Common loss quantification issues arising in shareholder disputes
- Common loss quantification issues arising in business sale disputes
- A guide to instructing loss quantification expert witnesses
Presented by John-Henry Eversgerd, Senior Managing Director, Valuation & Litigation Consulting, FTI Consulting
1.05pm to 1.15pm Final Q&A and Closing Comments by the Chair
Session 2
CPD Compulsory Units for Commercial Litigators
Chair: Mark Brabazon SC, 7 Wentworth Selborne; Recommended Tax Senior Counsel, Doyle’s Guide 2020; Author, International Taxation of Trust Income: Principles, Planning and Design, Cambridge University Press and The Application of Tax Treaties to Fiscally Transparent Entities, IBFD Global Tax Treaty Commentaries
Professional Skills
2.00pm to 3.00pm Settlement: A Comprehensive Strategy and Methodology for ‘Crunching the Numbers’
A party should settle if (but only if) a settlement offer can be assessed as more valuable than the party’s litigation position. Explore a novel, practical and comprehensive methodology for making that assessment, balancing legal and commercial considerations.
- Examine a set of tools for resolving the dilemma: Should my client accept that offer, or litigate?
- Work through a 3-step universal methodology for quantifying the value of a party’s litigation position (to permit comparison against any settlement offer)
- ‘Probability-weighted valuation’ of monetary claims and exposures
- Monetising and accounting for the value of non-monetary ancillary advantages and disadvantages of litigation (e.g., stress, opportunity cost, reputation damage, precedent)
- Monetising and accounting for risk associated with the litigation
Presented by Hugh Stowe, Barrister, 5 Wentworth Chambers; Best Lawyers 2022 Litigation
Ethics & Professional Responsibility
3.00pm to 4.00pm Implied Waiver of Privilege and Inadvertent Disclosure: Challenges for Litigators
- Scope of legal professional privilege
- Implied waiver: the grey areas and how to avoid unforeseen pitfalls
- In what circumstances can a privileged document be referred to without waiver?
- Challenges posed by electronic information
- Righting the ship: what to do when there is an inadvertent disclosure
Presented by Louise Hulmes, Barrister, Eighth Floor Selborne Chambers; Recommended Insolvency & Restructuring Junior Counsel, Doyle’s Guide 2021
4.00pm to 4.15pm Afternoon Tea
Practice Management & Business Skills
4.15pm to 5.15pm Accelerating Document Review and Other Technology Tools to Maximise Efficiency and Results
- Technology assisted review
- Structured analytics and other techniques
- What you may be missing out on right now and what is on the horizon
- Additional technology tools that can benefit your practice in the current environment
Presented by Jonathan Prideaux, Partner and Roman Barbera, Associate Director, KordaMentha Forensics
Venue
Cliftons - Spring Street
Level 3, 10 Spring Street
Sydney 2000
NSW
Australia
Parking Information
Parking not included in you registration. Here are some options below.
Secure Park 20 Bond Street - click here for rates
Wilson Park 1 O'Connell Street - click here for rates
Wilson Park 31 Bond Street - click here for rates
Directions
Nearby Public Transport:
Train Stations - Wynyard 400m OR Martin Place 500m
Bus Interchange - Clarence Street 450m
Ferry - Circular Quay 1.2km