This course examines the main principles that apply to companies and business structures. It emphasises the legal effects of incorporation, including corporate liability, raising and maintaining of capital, responsibility for company management, the commercial conduct of a company, the protection of shareholders and the alternatives that are available for companies that find themselves in financial distress. Students will also investigate the operation of corporate governance principles in Australian corporate life.

The course looks at remedies that can be sought and who can seek them, in respect of companies and other business entities that may have failed, or alternatively where company officers may have breached their legal obligations. It also examines other forms of business structures; in particular the comparative utility of these alternative business structures emphasising their suitability for the conduct of commercial operations and risk to assets.