Business Law Section

About the Section

The Business Law Section (BLS) was established in August 1980 by the Law Council of Australia with jurisdiction in all matters pertaining to business law. It is governed by a set of by-laws passed pursuant to the Constitution of the Law Council of Australia and is constituted as a Section of Law Council of Australia Limited.

It provides a forum through which lawyers and others interested in law affecting business can discuss current issues, debate and contribute to the process of law reform in Australia, and enhance their professional skills.

The Business Law Section:

 

Section Executive
 

Mr Greg Rodgers, Chair

Greg Rodgers, the current chair of the BLS, has more than 35 years’ experience practicing in commercial law, dispute resolution and insolvency. His clients include financial institutions, insurance companies, insolvency practitioners, mining and resources companies. He is admitted as a solicitor in New South Wales and Queensland and is a member of the BLS Insolvency & Reconstruction Committee (having been chair of that committee in 2004 and 2005). Greg first joined the executive of the BLS in 2007 and has been treasurer and deputy chair of the Section.

He is one of the founders of RBG Lawyers, a specialist commercial firm operating from Brisbane but with clients in all states of Australia as well as overseas. He has previously been a partner in large national firms as well as smaller law firms and is familiar with issues affecting the practice of law in various sectors of the profession.
 

Mr Mark Friezer, Deputy Chair

Mark Friezer is a taxation law specialist with over 35 years' experience. He is a past National Chair of the Taxation Committee and served on the National Tax Liaison Committee for 10 years. Mark has represented a range of significant Australian and international clients in a variety of transactions including mergers and acquisitions, financing transactions and on tax audit and tax litigation issues. Mark has extensive experience advising in the not for profit sector. Mark is an author of the Australian Tax Handbook and lectures at University of Sydney in the Master of Laws program.
 

Mr Philip Argy, Treasurer

Philip Argy is an experienced lawyer, mediator and arbitrator. He specialises in intellectual property, science, technology and competition law and has been a computer buff for nearly 50 years as well as being an experienced programmer. Philip left Mallesons Stephen Jaques (now King and Wood Mallesons) at the end of 2007 after being with the firm for almost 32 years (24 of them as a partner). He established ArgyStar.com in January 2008 to evangelise and implement dispute resolution strategies in the IT sector. He is a Consulting Principal to Keypoint Law as well as maintaining his eponymous law firm.

Philip is on the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) panel of neutrals for the resolution of intellectual property disputes. Euromoney's Best of the Best repeatedly listed Philip as one of the best information technology lawyers in the world. He is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a Past President of the Australian Computer Society and current Chairman of the ACS Disciplinary Committee.

He is a committee member of Sydney Angels, the largest angel investor group in Australia, and Chairman of One Education Foundation Limited, a national charity that provides laptops for primary school children. Philip is a Past President and founding member of the New South Wales Society for Computers and the Law, and a long standing member of the Australian Corporate Lawyers' Association. Philip is also a past Chairman of the Law Society of NSW Legal Technology Committee and past Treasurer of the Mediator Standards Board.

 

Executive Members
 

Committees of the Business Law Section
 

The Business Law Section currently has 14 specialist committees and working groups. To learn more about the work of each committee please click on the links below.

The Competition and Consumer Committee provides a forum through which lawyers, economists, academics and other interested parties can discuss competition and consumer law issues. The committee meets regularly to discuss legal developments, policy issues and potential areas of competition and consumer law reform. Read more.

Chair: Mr Geoff Carter

The Construction and Infrastructure Committee advises on policy and legislative reform impacting on the building and construction sector in Australia. The committee sees their role as consultative with government and other peak legal membership bodies such as state law societies and building practitioners associations. The committee’s key role is in commentary on legislative reform including drafting and education. Read more.

Chair: Mr Ross Williams 

The Corporations Committee takes an active role in consultation and submissions to Federal Treasury, ASIC, ASX, the Takeovers Panel and other regulators on law and policy reform proposals as they relate to Australian corporations and securities laws. Including topics such as corporate governance, fundraisings, takeovers, continuous disclosure, directors and officers duties and liability frameworks for corporations and their officers. The committee also collaborates with the Financial Services Committee on financial services reforms, and broader reforms emerging from the Royal Commission. Read more.

Chair: Ms Shannon Finch

The Customs and International Transactions Committee focuses on legal issues associated with international trade, particularly trade in goods. The committee’s focus areas are customs compliance, tariff classification, free trade agreements, tariff concession orders and Australia's obligations as a member of the World Trade Organisation. Read more.

Chair: Mr Russell Wiese

The Digital Commerce Committee was formed in the 1990s as the E-commerce Committee and has a focus on commercial and government/regulatory transactions with business and consumers using digital and related technologies and platforms including digital marketing, procurement, supply and service delivery, contracting, authentication, signing and consents. Read more.

Chair: Mr Mark Sneddon

The Financial Services Committee monitors developments in the laws and regulations governing financial services, actively contributing to public consultation on changes to these laws. These include, for example, the Australian Financial Services License regime, the National Credit Code, the Banking Code of Practice, the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act, the Personal Property Securities Act. Read more.

Chair: Ms Henrietta Thomas

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Working Party was formed to represent the views of the Law Council in relation to issues involving foreign corrupt practices, including law reform initiatives in this area and OECD scrutiny of Australia's compliance with its obligations under the relevant directive. Read more.

Chair: Mr Greg Golding

The Foreign Investment Committee was formed initially to engage with the Federal Government on much needed reform to Australia’s foreign investment regime. Following the rewrite of the legislation in 2015 the committee has continued to be actively engaged with the Federal Government at both bureaucratic, board and ministerial level. Read more.

Chair: Mr Malcolm Brennan

The Insolvency & Restructuring Committee (IRC) was formed in 1994 (formerly known as the Insolvency and Reconstruction Law Committee). The IRC is the peak legal body at the federal level for insolvency and restructuring and its members are many of Australia’s most respected and senior insolvency and restructuring lawyers. Read more.

Chair: Mr Scott Butler

The Intellectual Property Committee has been active in law reform of Australia’s intellectual property system for over 40 years. It comprises barristers, solicitors and academic scholars who, through its various sub-committees, debate and contribute to the process of law reform across all aspects of intellectual property law. Read more.

Chair: Mr Matthew Swinn

Chair: Mr Justin Quill

The Privacy Law Committee is focused on developments in privacy laws, mostly on the Federal level and from a business law perspective. The committee contributes regularly to initiatives such as the introduction of consumer data right, Digital Platform Inquiry and the privacy impacts of emerging technologies such use of biometric data and artificial intelligence. The committee also takes a keen interest in key investigations and enquiries undertaken by privacy and other regulators as these relate to privacy and data. Read more.

Chair: Ms Olga Ganopolsky

The SME Business Law Committee was initiated by Prof Bob Baxt in 2010 to represent the perspective of small businesses when providing submissions and consultations in areas where other BLS committees represented the interests of the large business clients of the practitioner members. Read more.

Chair: Ms Carolie Kenny

Through its policy and consultation work the Taxation Committee plays a key role in the strategic direction of the tax system and in the identification of opportunities to improve tax administration generally. The last four years have seen a marked increase in the number of significant changes and amendments to tax laws, many of which charter new and complex territory. The complexity of the tax system has continued to grow unabated. Read more.

Chair: Mr Clint Harding

 

Section Administration

Ms Jessica Morrow
Section Administrator
Business Law Section
T. (02) 6246 3737
E. Jessica.Morrow@lawcouncil.asn.au

Ms Kay Barney
Administrative Assistant 

 

Disclaimer

The Law Council is the peak body representing the interests of the legal profession at the national level. The Law Council does not offer advice on individual cases. If you do require legal advice, please contact your local law society or legal aid.
 

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