When Tax Schemes Become Directors’ Duties Risks: Lessons from BCI Finances Pty Ltd (in liq) v Binetter (No 4) [2016] FCA 1351
A complex tax-avoidance scheme triggered massive liabilities after directors failed to question conflicted decisions. Independent role separation helps prevent similar governance failures.
When Losing Access to Your Own Email Decides Your Future
A long-serving executive was told redeployment was possible, then lost access to the very systems he needed to find a new role. In CBA v Barker (2014), the High Court confirmed there is no implied duty of mutual trust and confidence in Australian employment contracts. The case reveals how fairness must be built into process, not left to assumption.
When Purpose Blurs, Protection Disappears: The Lesson of Esso v Commissioner of Taxation
The High Court in Esso v Commissioner of Taxation confirmed the dominant purpose test for legal professional privilege and showed how easily privilege unravels when legal and commercial work is mixed. The case remains a warning that clarity of purpose must be built into structure, not reconstructed after the fact.