On 20 July, 218 viewers connected to the Australian Law Reform Commission’s (ALRC) webinar which considered the articles published in C&SLJ’s Special Issue, 38.5, “Financial Services Laws – Understanding the Devil in the Detail”. Additionally, there were 373 downloads of articles from the Special Issue which had been made available to the ALRC for the period around the webinar.

In launching the Special Issue at the webinar, the Hon Justice Sarah Derrington, ALRC President, discussed the ALRC’s current financial services inquiry which is aimed towards ensuring an adaptive, efficient, and navigable legislation framework, with the ultimate goal being “meaningful compliance with the substance and intent of the law”.

The ALRC’s detailed legislative mapping exercise, a first step in this process, was the subject of the Special Issue.

“The ALRC’s analysis,” said Justice Derrington, “has greatly benefitted from the contributions of leading academics to articles in this Special Issue.” C&SLJ’s General Editor, Edmund Finnane, noted at the webinar that the Special Issue articles were “a fine starting point for some important discussions that need to take place”.

The ALRC’s news item on the webinar noted that topics covered in the panel discussion by authors of the Special Issue articles, included:  the interaction between general law and statutory duties; the distinctive role and volume of delegated legislation affecting financial product disclosure requirements; inconsistencies and overlaps in licensing regimes; implications of variations in the way conflicts of interest are regulated in different financial services sectors; and the distinctive aspects of the regulation of superannuation that mitigate against integration of the licensing regimes for financial services providers and Registerable Superannuation Entities.

Associate Professor Rosemary Teele Langford, one of the authors, provided the keynote address, including looking at legislative design.