The BLS Report Podcast

Just in the last months of 2021 the Senate Select Committee on Australia as a Technology and Financial Centre delivered its final report on digital assets, one of Australia’s big 4 banks announced that they would add Crypto currencies to their banking app, and ASIC released guidance on “crypto-asset related investment products. It is safe to say the digital world is rapidly expanding and we need to jump aboard this fast moving train.

 

To assist our listeners navigate through the digital maze, BLS Executive members John Keeves and Professor Pamela Hanrahan are joined by three leading lawyers in this field to dive further into the digital labyrinth. Hannah Glass, a senior associate in King & Wood Mallesons’ leading financial markets and systems team, Susannah Wilkinson, Co-Digital Law Head at HSF and new BLS Chairman Philip Argy who is a long-serving BLS Digital Commerce Committee Member.

This latest episode is about cyber-security and the Critical Infrastructure Bill, legislation that is currently before the Federal Parliament. The Bill will impose a new and extensive set of cyber-security requirements for what is to be regarded as “critical infrastructure” – and it covers a number of sectors beyond what would be typically thought of as infrastructure in ordinary language, including food and grocery, health and financial services.

This latest episode explores Environmental, Social and Governance factors (ESG's), how they affect investment decisions and how ESG factors are becoming increasingly important in M&A and investment deals in Australia and overseas. 

BLS Executive members John Keeves & Professor Pamela Hanrahan are joined in discussion by fellow BLS Executive member and one of Australia’s leading corporate M&A lawyers, Rebecca Maslen-Stannage, Partner at Herbert Smith Freehills, along with Brad Lynch, a Partner with Advent Partners, one of Australia’s longest standing investment managers.

The first episode for 2021 kicks off with a discussion of the recent, and very significant, reforms to Australia’s foreign investment review framework, that came into effect on 1 January this year.

Our BLS Executive Members Prof Pamela Hanrahan and Mr John Keeves are joined by two of Australia’s pre-eminent FIRB lawyers, the BLS’ Foreign Investment Committee Chair Mr Malcolm Brennan, Partner at King & Wood Mallesons and Deputy Chair Ms Wendy Rae, Partner at Allens.

BLS executive members Professor Pamela Hanrahan and John Keeves, discuss corporate accountability and whether there has been a shift in focus over recent years.

As the recession bites, all BLS members will need to be across emerging issues in insolvency law. Beginning with a quick refresher on the 2018 reforms, BLS Report Episode 2 provides a clear analysis of the temporary relief measures for insolvent entities and their directors adopted by Government in response to the pandemic. This lively conversation between BLS Insolvency and Restructuring Committee chair Scott Butler and BLS Executive member Pamela Hanrahan focuses on the insolvency and corporate law issues that will matter most in 2020 for business lawyers and their clients.

The BLS Report - Episode Three: Tax in the digital economy by The Business Law Section

The fourth and final episode for 2020, BLS committee members Kirsten Webb, a partner at Clayton Utz and BLS working group member Dr Rob Nicholls, an Associate Professor in the UNSW Business School join Executive member Professor Pamela Hanrahan in a discussion about the current issues of competition in the world of digital platforms and what actions regulators are taking both in Australia and internationally to manage these issues.