New publications by Business Law academics under the spotlightSeveral publications authored and co-authored by academics from the Department of Business Law and Taxation came under the spotlight at a Workplace and Corporate Law Research Group Seminar held on Wednesday 24 September 2008. One of the publications, Directors' Personal Liability for Corporate Fault - A Comparative Analysis, edited by Associate Professor Helen Anderson, head of the department, is a collection of essays which describes and analyses the legal regimes governing directors' liability for corporate fault and default across eleven important jurisdictions. Associate Professor Anderson's book examines the multiplicity of ways in which directors may be held liable, even in the absence of deliberate intention or negligence. The fact that even countries with similar legal evolution and institutions can have markedly different laws, both in substance and in form, is also closely examined, along with the effect that the imposition of liability is likely to have on directors' behaviour. Other authors and co-authors from the department included Alice de Jonge, Corporate Governance and China's H-Share Market; Christopher Arup, The World Trade Organization Knowledge Agreements; Shelley Marshall and Richard Mitchell (editors with Ian Ramsay), Varieties of Capitalism, Corporate Governance and Employees; and Anthony Forsyth (with Breen Creighton, Val Gostencnik and Tim Sharard), Transition to Forward with Fairness: Labor's Reform Agenda. Dr Forsyth's book provides important insights into the ongoing process of workplace reform in Australia, focusing on the measures already implemented by the Rudd Government - and others that are currently being developed - to wind back (albeit only partially) the Howard Government's 'Work Choices' legislation. Two guest speakers - Professor Tim Lindsey, Director of the Asian Law Centre at Melbourne University, and Associate Professor Peter Gahan, Director of the Work and Employment Rights Research Centre at Monash - discussed these publications at the seminar. The speakers identified some of the common themes emerging from the new books, and assessed their contribution to the disciplines of workplace law, corporate law/corporate governance, and international trade law. They also assessed the importance of this type of legal publishing in advancing the understanding of Australia's position in the Asia-Pacific region, and the global economy. Photo: From left is Associate Professor Helen Anderson, Professor Tim Lindsey, Melbourne Law School, Dr Shelley Marshall, Dr Anthony Forsyth, Dr Alice de Jonge and Professor Chris Arup, from the Department of Business Law and Taxation and Associate Professor Peter Gahan from the Department of Management. |
