Corporate governance codes in Australia and New Zealand: Propriety and prosperity

Overview of the central features of corporate governance codes, 'Principles of Good Corporate Governance and Best Practice Recommendations' (released by the ASX Corporate Governance Council) and 'Corporate Governance in New Zealand, Principles and Guidelines' (released by New Zealand Securities Commission) - whether the codes address the right problem - are the solutions of independence and disclosure conceptually and practically viable - whether codes pay sufficient attention to wealth creation.

Legal profession reform in Queensland

Legal reforms in Queensland: Queensland's Legal Profession Act came into force on 1 July 2004 and is a step in reorganising and modernising the regulation of the profession - development of an Australia-wide move towards improving conditions for national legal practice - central vehicle for national legal practice is a recommended bill of Model Laws - aspects of Model Laws have not been adopted in the Act and are expected to be adopted in a third stage of reforms.

Imperfect practice under the Legal Profession Act 2004 (Qld)

Special edition: legal reforms in Queensland - the Legal Profession Act brings greater consistency into many aspects of lawyer regulation - while they are designed to bring greater national uniformity, the reforms depart from the national Model Laws, leading to unnecessary complexity.

Principles of Australian public law

In this relatively short book, David Clark sets out to fill what he perceives to be a gap in the presently available writing on Australian public law by achieving two distinct objectives. The first is to remedy 'one of the oddest limitations of current public law writing in Australia' by detailing the history and operation of the state and territory constitutions as well as their philosophical underpinnings. The other is to explore certain areas of federal public law, such as the laws applicable to the constitution and operation of the Commonwealth Parliament and non-judicial bodies such as the Ombudsman, which are often not dealt with in leading constitutional and administrative law texts. It is acknowledged by the author that attempting to cover such a wide range of topics is a 'high-wire act'. Fortunately, apart from one slight stumble, Clark manages to keep his balance and has produced a useful précis of a number of the institutions and concepts that are fundamental to the orderly functioning of Australian society.

Pacific Carriers Ltd v BNP Paribas

High Court decision in Pacific Carriers v BNP Paribas, that BNP Paribas was estopped from denying the authority of its manager to sign the documents on its behalf will be a relief to third parties who rely on documents signed for and on behalf of financial institutions - particularly to those involved in the shipping industry who seek letters of indemnity relating to discharge of cargo without production of bills of lading.