Master the critical legal strategies to mitigate personal liability, protect the board, and navigate high-stakes claims during corporate financial distress.
When a company begins to experience financial difficulty, directors must continue making critical decisions while balancing commercial pressures with their legal responsibilities. In practice, disputes often arise after insolvency when courts are required to determine whether directors acted appropriately during the period leading up to the company's failure.
This course examines how courts in New Zealand and Australia assess directors' duties in insolvency litigation. Drawing on extensive experience in commercial and insolvency law, the session explores how director conduct is evaluated, how timing influences liability, and how decision-making is scrutinized in financially distressed companies. Participants will gain practical insight into the legal principles governing directors' duties and the factors that shape insolvency-related claims and litigation outcomes.
Key Topics Discussed:
Barrister | Adjunct Professor | International Arbitration and Commercial Law Specialist
Paul Dalkie is a barrister admitted in Australia (Queensland and Victoria) and New Zealand, with over 30 years' experience at the Bar, following eight years as a solicitor with Ashurst and Norton Rose Fulbright. He practises across commercial law, with particular expertise in international arbitration, corporate and insolvency law, contract law, banking and finance, white collar crime, competition law, tax, equity and trusts, construction, appeals, and alternative dispute resolution. Paul is an Adjunct Professor at Beijing Jiaotong University Law School, where he lectures in international arbitration, corporations law, and legal reasoning. He is a regular presenter for Legalwise Seminars, a panelist for the New Zealand Law Society Litigation Skills Course, and has published on directors' duties, restitution, and fair trial principles in leading New Zealand legal journals.
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