Associate Professor Andrew Schwartz, a 2017 Fulbright US Scholar based at the University of Auckland Law School, travelled to Sydney, Australia, in March to share his ongoing research that compares the United States and New Zealand systems of securities crowdfunding.

Recent legal reforms in the US and NZ have authorized the ‘crowdfunding’ of securities, which is where a company offers a security, such as a share of stock, over the Internet to retail investors without having to comply with the usual (and costly) registration and disclosure requirements imposed by securities regulation.

Professor Schwartz spent several days in residence at the University of Sydney Law School as a ‘Parsons Fellow’ within the aegis of the University of Sydney’s Ross Parsons Centre of Commercial, Corporate and Taxation Law, whose director is Sydney Law School Professor Jennifer Hill.

The highlight of his visit was his presentation at a well-attended seminar on securities crowdfunding, which took place at the offices of the Australian Securities and Investment Commission.

The timing of Professor Schwartz’s visit was auspicious:  Just days after he shared his research, the Australian Parliament passed a new law, based on the models developed in the US and NZ, to authorize securities crowdfunding in that country.