Quarterly update
Work highlight examples
Corporate
- Advised Impact Data on the acquisition of Intellimax Solutions, expanding the range of business intelligence software available to Impact Data clients.
- Advised Autopact on the acquisition of Keystar Autoworld from Trivett Automotive, continuing their strategic expansion in Queensland and along the east coast of Australia.
- Acted for the vendor in the sale of Eastern Subaru, a family-owned, multi-award-winning dealership with more than 38 years’ history in the Victorian market.
Employment
- Advised and assisted a not-for-profit with a significant restructure with union involvement.
- Guided a medical organisation through the process of managing an employee with performance issues who had disclosed a disability.
- Advised a transport and logistics company on restraints and strategy regarding a key senior employee, who intended to commence employment with a direct competitor.
Disputes
Successfully brought and resisted two separate urgent injunction applications in the Supreme Court for the same client within two weeks, both of which have now been resolved. Both matters tested all considerations for urgent relief and involved significant work under very tight timeframes.
One of the reported rulings can be found here.
Regulatory
Advised a multinational dairy company on the Food Standards Code and Australian Consumer Law requirements for lactose-free claims.
Marketing
Completed a website audit for a global automotive brand for compliance with the Australian Consumer Law.
Governance
Provided cross-jurisdictional training to the global board of Movember, regarding company and NFP directors' duties in the jurisdictions that Movember operates including Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States, Canada and Ireland.
Out and about
We hosted our fifth Women’s Networking Lunch, welcoming back CIE alum Claire Humphries, now Global General Counsel at Movember. In conversation with Kaye, she shared her experiences leading a global team in the NFP space, along with practical insights on the importance of strong governance while weaving the “Movember magic” through everything they do.
Women In Automotive have done it again. A CIE Legal septet led by Ashleigh Trotter and Hannah Pike, together with Tiffany Lucas, Kaye Ho, Monica Yuan, Peter George, and Raph Goldenberg, ventured up the Yarra to Zinc for the Melbourne Signature Series event. Highlights included a lively panel on women in leadership, plenty of new connections and Peter scored a door prize.
Hannah Pike and Kaye Ho flew up to Canberra to join industry executives in the cosmetics, personal care, and hygiene sectors at Accord Australasia’s Industry Leaders Dinner and conference. They dove into discussions on the latest policy and regulatory changes and heard directly from government representatives on key issues for the sector.
Jennifer Espie and Ines Balint attended the Australian HR Institute’s Victorian state conference, soaking up insights on AI, leadership, and the evolving workplace. They came away armed with practical ideas to help clients tackle workplace change in a fast-changing landscape. While this was technically in June, we decided to sneak it in anyway.
Tiffany Lucas met with founders and business owners at the Wholesale Investor Business Exit Summit in Sydney, swapping insights with fellow advisors. The consensus was clear: early involvement of the right advisors is crucial for maximising exit value.
Coming up
- Our first episode of “We have this employee…” is out! In the episode, Ines and Andrew tackle declining employee performance linked to mental health. With Part 2 of the discussion and many more episodes coming soon, subscribe now! Listen here.
People news
A warm welcome to Rose Coffey, our newest Lawyer. With experience in-house and across commercial and IP matters, she excels at simplifying tricky legal issues and helping clients get things done. Bonus points: she brings the number of Kiwis in the office to two!
A great talker and listener, Bella is CIE Legal’s newest Graduate Lawyer. Starting as a paralegal at CIE, she joined us in August after finishing her law degree and has already hit the ground running with multiple Supreme Court appearances (and wins).