Cooper Grace Ward provides specialist advice and advocacy in all matters relating to competition and consumer law. Our team of experienced corporate lawyers has acted on behalf of a wide range of commercial clients in this area of the law, including multinational businesses and publicly listed companies.
We deliver clear, straightforward advice to navigate Australia’s complex competition and consumer regime and comply with its regulations.
No two matters are the same, so we provide individually tailored advice. Our aim is to protect businesses, company directors and senior management teams from the risk of severe financial and potentially criminal penalties.
At the same time, we help ensure your business’ compliance systems do not hold you back in a competitive marketplace. Our corporate lawyers help clients structure their systems to ensure compliance without hindering profitability. Ultimately, our focus is on delivering practical, commercial outcomes in the most complex situations.
Australia’s competition and consumer regulations are underpinned by the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (which replaced the Trade Practices Act 1974 in 2011) and Australian Consumer Law (ACL).
These regulations are enforced by independent statutory authority, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (the ACCC).
Contraventions of these laws attract significant fines and pecuniary penalties for non-compliant businesses, as well as company directors and officers.
Breaches include restrictive trade practices, cartels and secondary boycotts.
Competition and consumer law services
When acting on behalf of your business, our team’s focus is on delivering practical outcomes supported by straightforward advice. Our services include:
- assisting with the development of legal compliance systems
- advising on competition implications of proposed projects, takeovers and media campaigns
- general corporate advisory services in competition and consumer law issues such as cartels, third line forcing, and misleading or deceptive conduct
- providing representation to our clients in their dealings with the ACCC and ASIC
- bringing and defending court proceedings relating to anti-competitive trade practices and breaches of consumer law among businesses and between businesses and consumers
- providing comprehensive, individually tailored competition and consumer law training designed to protect businesses, boards and senior management teams.
Clients we act for
In advising on competition and consumer law matters, Cooper Grace Ward acts for a wide range of clients across Australia including:
- ASX listed companies
- private companies and middle market enterprises
- family offices and family owned businesses
- multinational companies operating in Australia
- medium to large scale not-for-profit organisations
- government agencies and statutory authorities.
