As corporations collapse, interest in corporations law rises
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Juliette Overland |
With thousands of Australians affected directly or indirectly by the collapses of corporate giants like HIH and OneTel, interest in corporations law is on the rise.
As part of its Master of Commercial Law, Macquarie University offers a number of subjects focusing on aspects of corporations law. The Law of Business Enterprises, conducted by commercial law specialist Juliette Overland, offers students the chance to look at real life case studies and examples relating to issues such as corporate governance, securities regulation and corporate takeovers.
Overland has lectured in Business Law at Macquarie for three years following a 10-year career as a solicitor.
"Most of my work was in the area of corporations law, in particular acquisitions and takeovers, public securities offerings and private equity capital raisings," says Overland. "My specific area of interest is securities market offences which are regulated by the Corporations Act, in particular insider trading, which is the topic of my PhD thesis."
What is Corporations law?
Corporations law is the law that regulates corporations: how they are formed, how they are managed, how their operations and affairs are regulated and how they are wound up.
The collapses of companies such as HIH and OneTel have brought into the public arena issues that relate to corporations law - for example, what happens when there isn't enough money to pay employees and creditors when a company is wound up?
"These cases bring attention to the need for this area of the law to be properly regulated and run," Overland says. "What exactly is the role of the regulator ASIC? Is it doing a proper job? If there is no fault of the part of the regulator, are the laws at fault? If so, should the laws be amended? There are a number of questions which arise and these cases illustrate how these issues can impact on people's every day lives."
Master of Commercial Law
The Master of Commercial Law at Macquarie has experienced increased enrolments over the last few years. The course aims to provide professionals who have a non-legal background with specialised training in areas of the law which are relevant to management positions.
"I like to use examples from my own experiences in legal practice and build case studies concerning topical issues into my lectures," says Overland. "I think students better appreciate the relevance of what we discuss in lectures when they can understand how it might affect their own professional lives, and also consider examples of which they are already aware from newspaper and television reports."
While lawyers can undertake the Master of Commercial Law, most students have a background in areas such as accounting, engineering, information technology or marketing. "These students don't want to become lawyers but need to have an understanding of how the law impacts upon their own areas of expertise," explains Overland.
For further information contact Juliette Overland: Juliette.overland@mq.edu.au