When Pressure Stops Being “Just Business”: Lessons from the Equiticorp Case
A complex tax-avoidance scheme triggered massive liabilities after directors failed to question conflicted decisions. Independent role separation helps prevent similar governance failures.
When Set-Off Meets Fairness: Insights from Metal Manufactures v Morton
The High Court’s decision in Metal Manufactures v Morton closed the door on creditors using statutory set-off to shield unfair preference payments. This case note unpacks the Court’s reasoning, why the set-off argument failed, and what today’s businesses can learn from a judgment built around fairness, transparency, and the proper handling of money moving in both directions. It also shows how Clean Law’s escrow safeguards reflect the very principles the High Court reinforced.
Fairness in the Flow of Money: Lessons from Bryant v Badenoch
The High Court’s decision in Bryant v Badenoch reshaped the law of unfair preferences by rejecting the peak-indebtedness rule and reaffirming the deeper purpose of the running-account principle: to look at the relationship as a whole. This case note explains the judgment’s logic and why it matters for modern business relationships, especially where finances move back and forth in ways that can mask underlying vulnerabilities. It also shows how Clean Law’s escrow safeguards reflect the same fairness architecture the Court reinforced.
Power in Possession vs Fairness in Oversight
When $18.6 million worth of furniture shipments were locked in Australian ports, Nick Scali turned to the Federal Court. In Nick Scali v Lion Global Forwarding (2024), the Court upheld a freight forwarder’s lien — confirming that possession can lawfully hold power. But Clean Law’s Escrow Oversight model shows a better way: how to keep both goods and fairness moving without risk.
When Two People Sign the Same Contract but Mean Two Different Things
When two businessmen signed a Mandarin contract without lawyers, they thought “equity” meant land. The Court of Appeal in Sui v Jiang (2021) showed why translation gaps can turn million-dollar ventures into years of litigation. The Court reaffirmed that commercial certainty depends not on language, but on the law’s view of intention — and how fairness survives imperfect words.
When Privacy Silences a Billion-Dollar Dispute
When family wealth meets confidentiality and control, the High Court must decide who gets to tell the story. In Rinehart v Hancock Prospecting (2019), the Court upheld arbitration clauses that forced family trust disputes into private hearings. The case redefined how far confidentiality can reach in Australia’s commercial and family trust law — showing that, sometimes, even family truth stays behind closed doors.