Tony Damian and Andrew Rich discuss the proposed new ACCC merger notification thresholds with competition partner, Patrick Gay.

Under the so-called identification doctrine, companies could previously only be held criminally liable for a criminal offence requiring a particular mental state (e.g. knowledge, dishonesty etc.) if the mental state of a person representing the company's "directing mind and will" could be attributed to the company. In response to suggestions that the doctrine did not adequately deal with the realities of corporate structures, making it disproportionately difficult to prosecute large organisations for wrongdoing committed by their employees, Parliament enacted the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA 2023), which introduced a new statutory route to attributing criminal liability to a corporate. Under new provisions which came into force in December 2023, a corporate can be liable where a ‘senior manager’, acting with their actual or apparent authority, commits a listed economic crime offence. In this episode, Elizabeth Head, Eamon McCarthy-Keen, and Jessica Chappatte discuss the background to the reforms, the new provisions of the ECCTA 2023, and the implications for businesses of this expanded route to corporate criminal liability.

You can also read our briefing on this topic, which is available on our blog.

In episode 26, Emma and Rebekah are joined by Sarah Henkes-Younger to talk about whether IP rights subsist in material created by generated AI and discuss the famous Thaler patent litigation brought in numerous jurisdictions.

C&I Disputes Partners Dan Dragovic and Michael Lake discuss the much-anticipated decision in Tesseract International Pty Ltd v Pascale Construction Pty Ltd [2024] HCA 24 where the High Court of Australia confirms proportionate liability regimes can be applied in arbitration.

Join Dan and Michael as they discuss the decision and its practical implications.

In this not-to-be-missed episode of Inside IR, Partner Nick Ogilvie and Senior Associate Victoria Fijalski join Rohan Doyle to explore the learnings that can be taken from employers’ early experiences with the new intractable bargaining regime. Join Nick, Vic and Rohan as they:

• recap on what the intractable bargaining regime is, and provide a refresher on the preconditions that need to be met for the Fair Work Commission to make an intractable bargaining declaration;
• review the case law within the intractable bargaining jurisdiction to date, and identify the 5 key traps for employers – mistakes that, if made, are going to lead to poor bargaining outcomes – and tips for how to avoid them; and
• answer the burning question – is there any upside in the intractable bargaining regime for employers?

In this edition of our banking litigation podcast, we consider some recent cases that will be most relevant to in-house lawyers at banks and financial institutions. This episode is hosted by John Corrie, a partner in our banking litigation team, who is joined by Ceri Morgan and special guest Scott Warin.

You can find links to our blogs on the cases covered in this podcast below:

• Court of Appeal considers whether default interest clause is an unenforceable penalty
• Court of Appeal dismisses claim by participant against lender of record in a sub-participation arrangement
• High Court finds agent breached fiduciary duty in "half secret" commission case
• High Court grants injunctions in favour of bank in context of syndicated loan dispute over payments withheld due to sanctions
• High Court finds party has practical control over documents of sub-contractor and sub-sub-contractor for disclosure purposes
• The Hague 2019 Judgments Convention: Bolstering the UK's position as a jurisdiction of choice for international dispute resolution
• Banking litigation podcast episode 47: Sanctions special – July 2024

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In this episode, Partners Michael Vrisakis and Hugh Paynter and Executive Counsel Danielle Briers discuss customer remediation in financial services.