Corrs Chambers Westgarth

This year, the public M&A market experienced a resurgence in activity, with the highest number of deals we have seen in the last decade.   Our annual M&A Outlook special report explores the activity, strategies, trends and our predictions for the Australian M&A scene in 2025. Read more and download here: https://lnkd.in/evvZ2kMD

The Commonwealth Government has announced that it will seek to extend a proposed unfair trading practices prohibition to business-to-business dealings involving small businesses. Ian Reynolds, Brendon Clarke, Steven Rice, and Jacob Rizk outline why it is important that any such prohibition is drafted to reduce the risk of inconsistent outcomes and mitigate expanding the regulatory burden on companies active in Australia.

The recent Full Federal Court decision, AusNet Services Limited v Commissioner of Taxation, provides a useful roadmap to statutory interpretation, particularly in the context of tax legislation. Cameron Blackwood, Rhys Jewell and Kieran Egan explore the key takeaways.

In partnership with Deloitte, we were pleased to host our annual Corrs Cyber Bootcamp for our clients this week. Over two interactive sessions, our head of technology, media and telecommunications James North, head of intellectual property Eugenia Kolivos, head of corporate Sandy Mak and partners Arvind Dixit, Michael do Rozario and Lucy Terracall joined Deloitte cyber security experts to discuss how organisations can build cyber resilience and develop an effective incident response strategy.

The High Court’s pivotal decision in Commonwealth v Yunupingu [2025] HCA 6 unlocks the potential for compensation claims to be made by traditional owners against the Commonwealth Government in relation to activities which occurred pre-1975. Anna White, Rosie Syme, Milaan Latten and Radhika P. analyse the decision and its implications.

We were delighted to welcome Dr Brendan Rynne, Partner and Chief Economist at KPMG Australia, to our Melbourne office yesterday for an Australian Economic Update session. Dr Rynne provided valuable insights into the current state of Australia’s economy and facilitated a lively discussion on emerging risks and opportunities in the market, sectors that are likely to face economic challenges in 2025 and key economic trends and predictions for the year ahead.

We were delighted to welcome our 2025 graduates to Sydney last week for our three-day national Corrs Graduate Academy. Learn more about our graduate program: https://lnkd.in/guM_kJXU

At the 2025 Infralogic Investors Forum Australia, our partner James Abbott moderated a panel discussion covering the evolution of the infrastructure asset class and the global outlook for infrastructure investors. The panel Nicholas Kuys (Managing Director, Private Infrastructure Asset Management, Partners Group), William Smales (Partner and Chief Investment Officer, Morrison), Kirsten Whitehead (nee Rodie) (Partner, Co-Head Portfolio Management, QIC), Ken Wong (Partner and Head of Asia Pacific Infrastructure, EQT) and Danny Latham (Partner, Head of Australia and New Zealand, Igneo Infrastructure Partners) shared their insights on how to navigate the complex investment landscape in 2025. 

In 1965, having just graduated from studying law, the Hon. Margaret (Peg) Lusink AM joined Corr and Corr (now Corrs Chambers Westgarth) in Melbourne. By 1971, Peg had become our firm’s first female partner and went on to become the first Victorian woman to be appointed as a Judge of a Superior Court of Record – the Family Court of Australia. In recognition of #IWD2025, we are delighted to share this short video celebrating Peg’s unique and illustrious career.

The Australian government has announced plans to introduce a range of reforms aimed at bolstering protections for telecommunications consumers. Philip Catania, Justin G., Matthew Lee and Amy Yu explore the proposed reforms, and how organisations can prepare.