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:

• Prepares more than half of the Law Council's submissions each year, putting the views of the business community and the legal profession directly to the Federal Government and its agencies, and Federal Parliamentary Committees. 
• Provides a forum for debate of current issues, and assists lawyers to develop and maintain their professional skills and knowledge, through a schedule of regular conferences, workshops and seminars.
• Represents the Law Council on a number of bodies - for example, the National Taxation Liaison Group and its sub-committees, the Customs and Border Protection National Consultative Committee and its sub-committees and the ASX Corporate Governance Council.
• Gives its members the opportunity to develop a network of professional contacts in their fields of practice.
• Gives its members access to a range of discounts and corporate plan arrangements for domestic and international air travel, accommodation, and car rental.

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
 

• Ms Rebecca Maslen-Stannage (Immediate past chair)
• Professor Pamela Hanrahan
• Mr John Keeves
• Mr Frank O'Loughlin
• Ms Rachel Webber
• Dr Elizabeth Boros
• Mr Adrian Varrasso
• Dr Richard Dammery
   

Committees of the Business Law Section
 

Competition and Consumer 

• Ms Geoff Carter, Chair
   

Construction and Infrastructure Law

• Mr Ross Williams, Chair
   

Corporations

• Ms Shannon Finch, Chair
   

Customs & International Transactions

• Mr Russell Wiese, Chair
   

Digital Commerce

• Mr Mark Sneddon, Chair
   

Financial Services

• Ms Henrietta Thomas, Chair
   

Foreign Corrupt Practices Working Party

• Mr Greg Golding, Chair
   

Foreign Investment

• Mr Malcolm Brennan, Chair
   

Insolvency & Reconstruction Law

• Mr Scott Butler, Chair
   

Intellectual Property

• Mr Matthew Swinn, Chair
   

Media & Communications

• Mr Justin Quill, Chair
   

Privacy Law

• Ms Olga Ganopolsky, Chair
   

SME Business Law

• Ms Meghan Warren, Chair
   

Taxation

• Mr Clint Harding, Chair

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 

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