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Centre for Commercial Law and Regulatory Studies (CLARS)
The Centre for Commercial Law and Regulatory Studies (CLARS) at Monash University Law School facilitates innovative research in commercial law, corporate governance and regulation. The Centre includes select Monash University academics and postgraduate students, as well as visiting scholars and research partners from around the world. The Centre promotes discussion and dissemination of commercial and corporate law research through scholarly publications, seminars and conferences, and actively engages with the legal and business communities, policy makers, and regulators.
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Spotlight
Strategies for Women on Boards: CLARS Law and Business Seminar Series 2023
Register now for the first CLARS Law and Business Seminar event in 2023. Professor Cindy Schipani, Merwin H. Waterman Collegiate Professor of Business Administration and Professor of Business Law, University of Michigan, will discuss her recent research findings that may provide helpful strategies for women to amplify their voices and impact policy.
Competition law in a changing economy and rise of the digital era
On 28 September 2022, CLARS and the Centre for Global Business (of the Faculty of Business and Economics) teamed up to organise a one-of-a-kind seminar featuring all of the Chairs who have led the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), from its inception in 1995 to the present day. The current Chair, Gina Cass-Gottlieb, and the three historical Chairs – Allan Fels (1995-2003), Graeme Samuel (2003-2011) and Rod Sims (2011-2022) – had never before been brought together for such a “summit” meeting.
Researching Tort Law in Australia: Emerging Voices, Fresh Perspectives
CLARS member Dr Nick Sinanis hosted a scholarly round-table workshop at Monash Law Chambers. The workshop coincided with the Edinburgh University Law Professor, Claudio Michelon's visit to Australia. Watch the recording of the session on the CLARS Video Portal.
New Unit on Commercial Equity, Taught by The Hon Geoffrey Nettle AC QC on Offer
In 2022, an exciting new unit, Commercial Equity (LAW5445) was introduced into the corporate/commercial law program. The unit is taught by the Hon Geoffrey Nettle AC QC, former Justice of the High Court of Australia, together with Mr Angus Willoughby, member of the Victorian Bar, and Dr Nick Sinanis, Lecturer at the Monash Law Faculty. Commercial Equity explores the evolution of certain core equitable doctrines most relevant to commercial practice from their early recognition up to recent decisions of the High Court of Australia. The unit will be on offer again in 2023.
What's a Director To Do?: Directors' Duties in Times of COVID
The Covid-19 pandemic has had a major impact on many areas of corporate law, including directors' duties. This seminar explored the English law treatment of directors' duties in relation to payments to creditors during the pandemic. English law regulates directors' duties in relation to the order in which creditors are paid through a complex bundle of judge-made and statutory rules. Some, but not all, of these rules were suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic; at the same time, other parts of the COVID-19 corporate relief package could plausibly have been expected to influence the order in which directors were likely to discharge creditor claims.
In this seminar, Professor Kristin van Zwieten presented the work-in-progress with Professor Sarah Paterson (London School of Economics) on directors' duties under English law during the pandemic, in particular in relation to the treatment of factual preferences, and what lessons might be learnt from this about the future development of directors' duties in insolvency.
Click on the link above to learn more.
Optus Data Breach Brings Privacy (and Privacy Law Reform) to Centre Stage - Professor Neil Richards on "Why Privacy Matters"
The recent Optus data breach has brought not sharp focus the fact that privacy matters. To find out why, watch our recent Law & Business seminar by Professor Neil Richards. Professor Richards is the Koch Distinguished Professor in Law at Washington University and one of the world's leading experts in privacy law, information law and freedom of expression.
In this seminar, Professor Richards examined why privacy is by no means dead in the modern era and deserves to be protected. He was joined by, Professor Chris Marsden, who is the Professor of Artificial Intelligence, Technology and the Law at Monash Law School.
This seminar (and other great addresses in the CLARS Law & Business Seminar Program) are available on the CLARS Video Portal