Senior Legal Officer
Nicholas is a Senior Legal Officer at the ALRC. In this role, he leads research and writing for specific aspects of ALRC Inquiries. Nicholas joined the ALRC in November 2020 and has worked on the following inquiries:
Prior to joining the ALRC, Nicholas worked on credit and insurance law reform and regulatory surveillances at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. He has also been a research assistant and research associate at the Australian National University (ANU) Centre for European Studies.
Nicholas has a Bachelor of Laws (First Class Honours) and a Bachelor of International Relations from the ANU, where he also obtained a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice.
19.01.2023
User-friendly legislation: Why we need it, and how to achieve it
Modern smartphones are some of the most technologically sophisticated pieces of equipment ever invented. And yet, to operate one, you don’t need a PhD in computer science or years of experience. For the most part, their operations are intuitive and their functions easily navigable. If only the same could be said for all modern legislation.
Read more19.12.2022
The Wondrous Universe of Law: The ALRC’s DataHub and a new age of legal exploration
In this article the ALRC announce the launch of the DataHub, which will enable greater explorations of our Universe of Law. Using the DataHub and new tools of discovery, this article summarises four key learnings about our law. They concern the law’s scale, expansion, complexity, and tendency to disorder. These learnings, and others gleaned from the DataHub, can help improve our Universe of Law, for the benefit of all.
Read more08.07.2022
Risk and Reform in Australian Financial Services Law
Australian Law Journal Article by Nicholas Simoes da Silva and Dr William Isdale.
Read more13.06.2022
ALRC talks with practitioners at the 2022 Law Council of Australia’s Corporations Law Workshop
How to simplify the Corporations Act and financial services laws was the focus of the ALRC’s presentation to the Law Council of Australia’s 2022 Corporations Law. The workshop was held in Katoomba, NSW on the 3-5 June 2022.
Read more19.04.2022
Podcast: The Corporate Counsel Show: Risk, reform and financial services
Nicholas Simoes da Silva features on the Lawyers Weekly Podcast, The Corporate Counsel Show, discussing the Australian Law Reform Commission’s latest background paper, Risk and Reform in Australian Financial Services Law (FSL5). Hosted by Jerome Doraisamy, Nicholas discusses the evolution of risk and its implications for financial services legislation. “The key objective of our ongoing …
Read more21.03.2022
Shifting sands in the regulation of financial risk: the ALRC’s new Background Paper on Risk and Reform in Australian Financial Services Law
In a new Background Paper — Risk and Reform in Australian Financial Services Law (FSL5) — the Australian Law Reform Commission explores how an evolution in thinking about risk has been an important driver of financial services law reform. In particular, the Paper reveals how the ‘shifting sands’ of regulatory approaches have resulted in legislation that is unwieldy and extraordinarily complex.
Read more16.02.2022
Tidying our house of law: bringing the Marie Kondo philosophy to the Commonwealth statute book
Australian Public Law Blog Article by Dr William Isdale and Nicholas Simoes da Silva
Read more14.02.2022
RECORDING Reducing Complexity: Why? Where? How?
On Thursday 10 February 2022, the Australian Law Reform Commission hosted a webinar to delve deeper into key proposals and questions from Interim Report A of the ALRC’s ongoing Financial Services Legislation Inquiry. The webinar offered perspectives on three key questions: Why should we seek to reduce the complexity of corporations and financial services legislation? …
Read more25.05.2021
ALRC Scrutinises the Complexity of the Australian Financial Services Regulatory Ecosystem
On Monday 17 May 2021 the Australian Law Reform Commission hosted a webinar exploring the initial findings of the Financial Services Legislation Inquiry. Over 370 people viewed the live stream, with hundreds more registered to receive the recording. Wolters Kluwer CCH Learning facilitated the live streaming, enabling an insightful, nationwide conversation with questions taken from …
Read more15.02.2021
You’re almost 20, Corporations Act
A witty dialogue about the Corporations Act that is a by-product of the current research being undertaken by ALRC as part of the Financial Service Legislation Inquiry.
Read more