Laws imposing personal liability on directors and officers

MinterEllison is pleased to provide you with the third edition of the Protecting your Position series.

Company directors and officers continue to be exposed to considerable personal liability under Commonwealth, State and Territory laws which impose personal liability on directors and officers as a result of a statutory breach by a company.

Following the Council of Australian Governments (or COAG) reform process, these laws have been significantly reformed with the objective of reducing the regulatory burden. However, there are still over 550 laws which impose personal liability on directors and officers as a result of a statutory breach by a company. Those laws impose liability in different ways both within and across the States and Territories with varying classes of officers caught and different elements of the offence and available defences.

The Protecting your Position series provides a detailed overview of the laws that impact on directors and corporate officers in various jurisdictions and an update on these laws following the reform process. They are authored by Bruce Cowley, one of Australia's leading corporate lawyers and an acknowledged commentator on corporate governance issues, and senior associate Steven Grant. Bruce and Steven are proud to release the third series with an edition for each jurisdiction in Australia current as at January 2017.

The publications are designed to provide directors, company secretaries, other company officers and those involved in the management of companies with: 

• a detailed overview of the laws that imposing personal liability on company directors, secretaries and other officers for the actions of their companies at Commonwealth level and in each State and Territory; 
• commentary on the types of provisions imposing personal liability on directors and officers in each jurisdiction and the extent of reform in each jurisdiction; and
• suggestions on how to best to manage and mitigate the impact of such legislation. 

Download electronic copies of the publications:

• Commonwealth (PDF)
• ACT (PDF)
• New South Wales (PDF)
• Northern Territory (PDF)
• Queensland (PDF)
• South Australia (PDF)
• Tasmania (PDF)
• Victoria (PDF)
• Western Australia (PDF)