ASIC’s legal layout
The number of ASIC investigations and civil lawsuits before the Federal Court is on the rise. For the corporate regulator, picking the right case is a challenge.
The head of the corporate regulator is navigating a persistent tension in the watchdog’s legal strategy: testing the law and raising awareness across the economy, and doing so with cases it has confidence it can win.
“I want to take a case with a big impact — a case with a likely chance of success, while pushing the regulatory envelope,” Joe Longo told a group of journalists in Sydney this week.
As Michael Shepherd, a partner at A&O Shearman, told Capital Brief: “ASIC does have to think carefully and weigh the cases it brings to get the best bang for its buck”.
“It needs to take cases that line up with its enforcement priorities and which, on occasion, will bring with it some publicity and so increased awareness and hopefully deterrence,” Shepherd said.
