On 8 September, 2017, a major step will be taken to preserve and protect the marine environment from alien invasive species when the International Convention for the Control of Ship’s Ballast Water and Sediments, 2004 (Ballast Water Convention) comes into force. The problem of alien invasive species in the marine environment is one of the

Between 2012 and 2015, a husband and wife operated a radio base for a truck repair company in Wagga  Wagga.  The question of whether they did so as employees or contractors, however, was anything but basic. After 7 days of hearing in the Federal Court, a judgment of 343 paragraphs was delivered.  The judgment identified

We are all used to seeing pop-up warnings when we go to delete electronic documents, although the pop-ups don’t usually warn us about things like “contempt of court” or “abuse of process”.  However, the destruction of documents can have serious consequences in litigation. A recent case in the Supreme Court of New South Wales has confirmed that

Breaking up (so the song tells us) is hard to do.  This proposition is no less true of commercial relationships than it is of personal relationships, which is why difficulties can arise in the enforcement of contractual dispute resolution procedures, such as agreements to arbitrate.  Once a dispute actually arises, one party to the agreement

If you have ever worked with Angus Macinnis you will know how much he likes the sound of his own voice. Fortunately, he is not the only person who likes (or at least, is prepared to tolerate) the sound of his voice, which is why he gets invited to present at CLE seminars from time

StevensVuaran Lawyers is a proud supporter of mooting at the Sydney Law School at the University of Notre Dame Australia, sponsoring the senior mooting competition conducted by the Notre Dame Sydney Law Society. In addition, Angus Macinnis assists head coach Svetlana German (a lecturer at UNDA Sydney) in coaching the UNDA Sydney team in the Willem

In the US Supreme Court last week, a band called The Slants had a big win. The band, who are apparently “the world’s first and only all-Asian American dance rock band”, had applied to register their band name as a trade mark. Registration had been refused on the basis of a legislative provision which prohibited

If you skim to the end of most contracts, you should find clauses of the kind which are often described as “midnight clauses”.  These are clauses dealing with the proper law of the contract, the jurisdiction (or forum) for the resolution of disputes, and (in some cases) providing for alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, such as arbitration.

Confidential information can be used (and misused) in lots of different ways. Disputes about use and misuse often arise following the termination of various kinds of contracts (including employment contracts and franchise contracts) which provide for confidential information to be provided by one party to the contract to the other party. If a party is

What’s better than getting an award of damages to compensate you for your loss?  Well, many things, but “preventing the loss from occurring in the first place” is pretty high up on the list.  It’s for that reason that an early decision which will often have to be made in litigation is whether to seek