The BLS Report Podcast
Business & Economics Podcasts
BLS Report, a series of podcasts available created by the Business Law Section, covering topics of interest arising in our fields or practice. This series is in commemoration of the late Professor Robert (‘Bob’) Baxt. Bob Baxt was the father of the BLS. In 1980, he was one of the signatories to the submission to the Law Council to establish the BLS and played a key role in its initial organisation and subsequent development. He was BLS chair from 2001 to 2003, a member of our executive for more than 30 years right up until his passing in March 2018, and whose presence we still feel at our executive meetings as he was a mentor to so many of us. Bob in fact served on three BLS committees, chairing two of them. He practiced and published extensively in the fields of trade practices, corporate law and taxation law, and had a longstanding commitment to legal education. He was Dean of Law at Monash University from 1980 to 1988, and later a professorial Fellow of the University of Melbourne, Chairman of the Law Committee of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and the founder and general editor of the Australian Business Law Review and the Company and Securities Law Journal.
Location:
United States
Description:
BLS Report, a series of podcasts available created by the Business Law Section, covering topics of interest arising in our fields or practice. This series is in commemoration of the late Professor Robert (‘Bob’) Baxt. Bob Baxt was the father of the BLS. In 1980, he was one of the signatories to the submission to the Law Council to establish the BLS and played a key role in its initial organisation and subsequent development. He was BLS chair from 2001 to 2003, a member of our executive for more than 30 years right up until his passing in March 2018, and whose presence we still feel at our executive meetings as he was a mentor to so many of us. Bob in fact served on three BLS committees, chairing two of them. He practiced and published extensively in the fields of trade practices, corporate law and taxation law, and had a longstanding commitment to legal education. He was Dean of Law at Monash University from 1980 to 1988, and later a professorial Fellow of the University of Melbourne, Chairman of the Law Committee of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and the founder and general editor of the Australian Business Law Review and the Company and Securities Law Journal.
Language:
English
Contact:
0262463737
Episodes
The BLS Report - Episode Twenty-three: Fixing the process of business law reform – is CAMAC 2.0 the answer?
10/28/2025
Everyone knows that structural reform of Australia’s corporate regulation is needed, but where do we start? In this episode, BLS Chair Pamela Hanrahan and BLS Executive member John Keeves are in conversation with Professor Jason Harris from Sydney Law School and Natasha McHattan from nlmlegal about the recent work of the Productivity Commission on regulatory reform and the CLRA campaign by industry bodies, professional associations and academics for a standing expert body to get modernisation moving.
Duration:00:33:52
The BLS Report Episode Twenty-Two: Australia’s Merger Reform - Meet the New Merger Sledgehammer - Part 2
9/28/2025
In this two-part episode of The BLS Report, regular co-host John Keeves and special co-host Peta Stevenson, Chair of the BLS Competition & Consumer Committee are joined by guests Caroline Coops from King & Wood Mallesons and Simon Muys from Gilbert + Tobin, to explore Australia’s new merger regime and what it means for businesses and practitioners. Part 2 Part 2 focuses on the practical implications, covering pre-notification strategies, ACCC review processes and timeframes, Tribunal review, remedies, FIRB interaction, due diligence considerations and more.
Duration:00:25:46
The BLS Report Episode Twenty-Two: Australia’s Merger Reform - Meet the New Merger Sledgehammer - Part 1
9/28/2025
In this two-part episode of The BLS Report, regular co-host John Keeves and special co-host Peta Stevenson, Chair of the BLS Competition & Consumer Committee are joined by guests Caroline Coops from King & Wood Mallesons and Simon Muys from Gilbert + Tobin, to explore Australia’s new merger regime and what it means for businesses and practitioners. Part 1 Part 1 examines the foundations of the regime, including key definitions, notification thresholds, targeted industries, filing fees and the requirements of the new notification forms.
Duration:00:30:32
The BLS Report Episode Twenty-One: Protecting Australian Financial consumers
7/30/2025
Australia’s financial consumer law was recently described by the Australian Law Reform Commission as “a tangled mess” and a “confusing maze” that is “no longer fit for purpose”. A new approach is needed. In this episode, BLS Chair Dr Pamela Hanrahan and Executive member John Keeves talk to Professor Lauren Willis, Centennial Chair of Consumer Law at Loyola Law School in California and a world-renowned expert on consumer regulation, about an alternative performance-based approach to law design.
Duration:00:37:51
The BLS Report - Episode Twenty: Cybersecurity – A Coordinated Effort
6/16/2025
Recorded 6 March 2025 In this episode, BLS Chair Dr Pamela Hanrahan and Executive member John Keeves meet two people at the centre of Australia’s coordinated response to cyber threat. Lieutenant General Michelle McGuinness CSC, the National Cyber Security Coordinator and Hamish Hansford, the Deputy Secretary for Cyber & Infrastructure Security in the Department of Home Affairs discuss the national strategy for cyber resilience and the Cyber Security Act 2024 (Cth).
Duration:00:39:43
The BLS Report Episode Nineteen: Sustainability - a management perspective
11/6/2024
In this special episode, BLS Executive members Pamela Hanrahan and John Keeves meet Mette Morsing, Professor of Business Sustainability and Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford. Professor Morsing is in Australia as the 2024 Gourlay Visting Professor of ethics in business and talks about how the disciplines of law and management work together in responding to climate change.
Duration:00:34:14
The BLS Report Episode Eighteen: How should we regulate AI?
7/11/2024
With the Senate Select Committee on Adopting Artificial Intelligence due to report in September, BLS Chair Professor Pamela Hanrahan and BLS Executive member John Keeves discuss recent developments and likely futures in AI regulation with Peter Leonard, Principal of Data Synergies Pty Ltd and UNSW Business School Professor of Practice.
Duration:00:41:53
The BLS Report Episode Seventeen: Untangling the mess
5/2/2024
The Australian Law Reform Commission was charged in 2020 with untangling the mess that is Australia’s financial services law, without altering the policy settings. In this episode, BLS Executive members Pamela Hanrahan and John Keeves discuss the Final Report with Christopher Ash and Ellie Filkin from the ALRC to unpack the Report’s 58 recommendations. We explore what needs to change in our approach to legislating for business regulation in future, to avoid unnecessary complexity and support the rule of law.
Duration:00:40:38
The BLS Report Episode Sixteen: Shaping the new climate disclosure laws
4/14/2024
In this episode, Professor Pamela Hanrahan and John Keeves discuss the climate disclosure bill introduced into Parliament in March with Tim Stutt, Australian head of ESG at Herbert Smith Freehills and Ben Fleming from Sullivan and Cromwell. The discussion shows how far we still are from achieving a global consensus on this important reform.
Duration:00:52:47
BLS Report Episode Fifteen: Privacy – Policy and Plaintiffs
11/1/2023
In this episode, Olga Ganopolsky of the BLS Privacy Committee and Michael Rivette of the Victorian Bar join BLS Executive Members Professor Pamela Hanrahan and John Keeves to discuss current issues in privacy, covering how Australia shapes up internationally, rule of law concerns and privacy class actions.
Duration:00:35:03
The BLS Report - Episode Fourteen: The Culpable Corporate Mind
8/14/2023
The fourteenth edition of the BLS Report explores the challenge of attributing fault to large corporations and other entities where power and decision-making are diffused. BLS Executive members Professor Pamela Hanrahan and John Keeves are joined by Professor Elise Bant FAAL from the University of Western Australia, to discuss her new edited book exploring the conceptions and conditions of corporate blameworthiness in law. We unpack the theory of “systems intentionality” as a basis for determining the mindset of a corporation.
Duration:00:39:44
BLS Report Episode Thirteen: Insolvency – Over the Horizon
3/27/2023
The thirteenth edition of the BLS Report explores the broader context of the PJC’s current review of aspects of Australia’s insolvency regimes, and the possibilities for change. BLS Executive members Professor Pamela Hanrahan and John Keeves are joined by two guests whom are perfectly positioned to provide insight into this topic, Chair of the BLS’ Insolvency & Restructuring committee Chris Pearce and committee member Dr Jason Harris, Professor of Corporate Law at the University of Sydney.
Duration:00:41:51
The BLS Report - Episode Twelve: ASIC’s enforcement approach
12/21/2022
In the final episode for 2022, BLS Executive members John Keeves and Pamela Hanrahan chat with ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court about ASIC’s enforcement approach. The conversation covers ASIC’s use of court proceedings and ‘why not litigate’, the Star proceedings and ongoing enforcement actions on DDO, and the proposed unfair conduct laws.
Duration:00:41:25
The BLS Report - Episode Eleven: Don’t Waive Goodbye to Legal Professional Privilege
11/1/2022
BLS Executive members Professor Pamela Hanrahan and John Keeves with fellow Executive member Clint Harding of Arnold Bloch Leibler discuss the hot topic of Legal Professional Privilege, including new protocols issues by the ATO.
Duration:00:32:06
The BLS Report - Episode Ten: Business Ethics: Private and public regulation
7/4/2022
In the tenth episode of the BLS Report, Professor Jeremy Moon, Chair of Sustainability Governance at Copenhagen Business School, and Mr Tim Bednall of King & Wood Mallesons, discuss the positive and negative influence of corporations in setting the rules of the game for corporate behaviour.
Duration:00:41:33
The BLS Report - Episode Nine: Corporations and Financial Services Laws and the ALRC
3/31/2022
In the first episode of the BLS Report for 2022, Pamela Hanrahan and John Keeves speak to Justice Sarah Derrington, President of the Australian Law Reform Commission, about the ALRC’s reference on Corporations and Financial Services Laws.
Duration:00:33:43
The BLS Report - Episode Eight: A business lawyer’s guide to crypto currencies
12/16/2021
Just in the last months of 2021 the Senate Select Committee on Australia as a Technology and Financial Centre delivered its final report on digital assets, one of Australia’s big 4 banks announced that they would add Crypto currencies to their banking app, and ASIC released guidance on “crypto-asset related investment products. It is safe to say the digital world is rapidly expanding and we need to jump aboard this fast moving train. To assist our listeners navigate through the digital maze, BLS Executive members John Keeves and Professor Pamela Hanrahan are joined by three leading lawyers in this field to dive further into the digital labyrinth. Hannah Glass, a senior associate in King & Wood Mallesons’ leading financial markets and systems team, Susannah Wilkinson, Co-Digital Law Head at HSF and new BLS Chairman Philip Argy who is a long-serving BLS Digital Commerce Committee Member.
Duration:00:50:23
The BLS Report - Episode Seven: Cyber Security & the Critical Infrastructure Bill
9/30/2021
This latest episode is about cyber-security and the Critical Infrastructure Bill, legislation that is currently before the Federal Parliament. The Bill will impose a new and extensive set of cyber-security requirements for what is to be regarded as “critical infrastructure” – and it covers a number of sectors beyond what would be typically thought of as infrastructure in ordinary language, including food and grocery, health and financial services.
Duration:00:37:52
The BLS Report - Episode Six: ESG in M&A and Investments
6/24/2021
This latest episode explores Environmental, Social and Governance factors (ESG's), how they affect investment decisions and how ESG factors are becoming increasingly important in M&A and investment deals in Australia and overseas. BLS Executive members John Keeves & Professor Pamela Hanrahan are joined in discussion by fellow BLS Executive member and one of Australia’s leading corporate M&A lawyers, Rebecca Maslen-Stannage, Partner at Herbert Smith Freehills, along with Brad Lynch, a Partner with Advent Partners, one of Australia’s longest standing investment managers.
Duration:00:30:41
The BLS Report: Episode Five - Foreign investment reforms: policy and practice
3/14/2021
The first episode for 2021 kicks off with a discussion of the recent, and very significant, reforms to Australia’s foreign investment review framework, that came into effect on 1 January this year. Our BLS Executive Members Prof Pamela Hanrahan and Mr John Keeves are joined by two of Australia’s pre-eminent FIRB lawyers, the BLS’ Foreign Investment Committee Chair Mr Malcolm Brennan, Partner at King & Wood Mallesons and Deputy Chair Ms Wendy Rae, Partner at Allens.
Duration:00:31:18