While these unprecedented and challenging times are placing profound pressure on the operations and financial position of businesses, it’s important to remember that companies are not exempt from complying with the competition and consumer laws. King & Wood Mallesons’ Peta Stevenson, Caroline Coop, Lisa Huett and Simon Cook give companies a guide to navigating unexpected challenges when dealing with competitors, consumers and other parties during the COVID-19 health crisis.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will scale back its use of certain investigatory tools, such as compulsory examinations, amid the strain on Australian businesses from the spread of COVID-19.
With new lockdown measures being rolled out on a daily basis to combat COVID-19, vast numbers of Australians have found themselves working from home, many for the first time. As employers and staff scramble to set up makeshift home offices and navigate the world of video conferencing, lawyers are reminding their clients not to forget the legal risks that come with remote working.
As states across Australia shut down non-essential services and close borders in the battle to control the spread of the coronavirus, companies are turning to their lawyers for guidance on everything from contracts to disclosure obligations, staff reductions to workplace health and safety issues. Lawyerly talked to practitioners to find out what was on the minds of their corporate clients.
A fight to lead a class action against Monsanto over its allegedly cancer-causing weedkiller Roundup is on foot, with a third class action soon to be filed against the chemical giant.
A company that holds the copyright for the Aboriginal flag may file a lawsuit against a website that sells flags featuring the design with the words ‘Free the flag’ in the middle.
If contingency fees are really so bad that they should be opposed as a matter of principle, why did each of the Productivity Commission, the Victorian Law Reform Commission, and the Australian Law Reform Commission recommend their introduction? The answer is that on close analysis, the arguments against contingency fees do not bear scrutiny, says NSW barrister Daniel Meyerowitz-Katz.
The Law Council of Australia has come out against proposed Victorian legislation that would allow lawyers to charge contingency fees, saying lifting the current ban would compromise solicitors’ ethical duties to their clients.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has opened a formal review into whether Google’s $3 billion acquisition of fitness device company Fitbit will harm competition, including the potential impact of the search giant’s increased access to user data.
Deloitte has lost its appeal of a ruling in a shareholder class action over the collapse of Hastie Group that compelled the production of audit files taken by a partner from the accounting giant’s litigation room, in a ruling that described the actions of the partner as “bordering on contempt” and slammed Deloitte for “cynically” exploiting the situation.