{"id":3795,"date":"2020-07-16T06:03:22","date_gmt":"2020-07-16T06:03:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insight.thomsonreuters.com.au\/legal\/?p=3795"},"modified":"2022-08-03T16:03:45","modified_gmt":"2022-08-03T05:03:45","slug":"legal-opinions-in-australian-finance-transactions-101-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insight.thomsonreuters.com.au\/legal\/posts\/legal-opinions-in-australian-finance-transactions-101-part-1","title":{"rendered":"Legal Opinions in Australian Finance Transactions 101: Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">In&nbsp;most large banking and finance transactions, where the bank (or banks) have engaged an external law firm to draft the financing documents,&nbsp;the bank will almost always&nbsp;require a&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/anzlaw.thomsonreuters.com\/w-012-7771\" target=\"_blank\">legal opinion<\/a>&nbsp;from their&nbsp;lawyers&nbsp;before making the first loan to the borrower.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>This practice initially&nbsp;developed&nbsp;in the context of cross-border&nbsp;transactions,&nbsp;especially&nbsp;on&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/anzlaw.thomsonreuters.com\/w-005-9153\" target=\"_blank\">syndicated loan<\/a>&nbsp;transactions&nbsp;where banks were lending to foreign borrowers&nbsp;and&nbsp;wanted&nbsp;comfort in relation&nbsp;to&nbsp;potential foreign legal risks&nbsp;(such as knowing that the financing documents would be enforceable under the laws of a foreign jurisdiction).&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However,&nbsp;the requirement for legal opinions eventually permeated&nbsp;into&nbsp;nearly all loan facility transaction, even&nbsp;those that are wholly domestic&nbsp;(that is, a loan transaction involving&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/anzlaw.thomsonreuters.com\/w-011-2786\" target=\"_blank\">obligors<\/a>&nbsp;that are Australian companies&nbsp;and&nbsp;that are entering Australian law-governed finance documents).&nbsp;As such,&nbsp;a&nbsp;detailed&nbsp;understanding of the&nbsp;purpose, content and structure of a legal opinion is important for all&nbsp;banking and finance lawyers&nbsp;and for their lender clients.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In\u00a0this\u00a0first of two\u00a0installments\u00a0on legal opinions used in banking and finance transactions,\u00a0we look at the\u00a0purpose and structure of legal opinions.\u00a0In the second installment, we will\u00a0observe\u00a0standard legal opinions that are typically included in an Australia law legal opinion.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What is a legal opinion&nbsp;and what is its purpose?&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/anzlaw.thomsonreuters.com\/w-012-7771\" target=\"_blank\">legal opinion<\/a>&nbsp;is&nbsp;a letter&nbsp;issued by a law firm&nbsp;acting for a bank,&nbsp;addressed to&nbsp;its client&nbsp;and&nbsp;any&nbsp;other finance parties in a financing&nbsp;transaction,&nbsp;that expresses&nbsp;specific conclusions of&nbsp;law about the transaction.&nbsp;More specifically, the&nbsp;three main purposes of a legal opinion are:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>To state conclusions of law regarding the ability of a parties or parties to&nbsp;enter&nbsp;and perform their obligations under the&nbsp;finance documents. The subject of a legal opinion are usually the borrowers and&nbsp;any&nbsp;other&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/anzlaw.thomsonreuters.com\/w-011-2786\" target=\"_blank\">obligors<\/a>&nbsp;involved in a financing transaction.&nbsp;<\/li><li>To inform the addressee of the legal effects of those finance documents.&nbsp;<\/li><li>To identify legal risks that the addressees may wish to consider in further details prior to entering into the transaction.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>A&nbsp;legal opinion is&nbsp;confined to opining on matters of law as at a stated date, usually the date the opinion is issued.&nbsp;Generally speaking, opinions&nbsp;are not:&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>given on factual matters&nbsp;(such as whether the borrower has or has not satisfied various conditions&nbsp;precedent to the first&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/anzlaw.thomsonreuters.com\/w-011-6235\" target=\"_blank\">drawdown<\/a>&nbsp;under the&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/anzlaw.thomsonreuters.com\/w-005-8895\" target=\"_blank\">facility agreement<\/a>); or&nbsp;<\/li><li>intended to provide the addressee with an assurance that the transaction is satisfactory or on &#8220;market&#8221; terms, or that it is structured in the most advantageous manner for the client.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Accordingly,&nbsp;if the&nbsp;client&nbsp;has concerns about&nbsp;specific legal issues in relation to&nbsp;the transaction, such as&nbsp;the deal structure used and&nbsp;its tax consequence, it will need to obtain separate and tailored legal advice in relation to such issues.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Which law firm provides the opinion?&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>It is market practice in Australia that where the banks and the borrower are both represented by Australian counsel that the banks rely on their own&nbsp;counsel to provide the&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/anzlaw.thomsonreuters.com\/w-012-7771\" target=\"_blank\">legal opinion<\/a>&nbsp;on the borrower and the finance documents, and&nbsp;will&nbsp;not ask the borrower&#8217;s counsel to do so.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>RELATED:<\/strong>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/insight.thomsonreuters.com.au\/legal\/posts\/5-clauses-in-syndicated-facility-agreements\">5 Clauses in Syndicated Facility Agreements that are Worth Revisiting<\/a>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, in some transactions the banks may request&nbsp;a legal opinion from the borrower&#8217;s counsel.&nbsp;A legal opinion issued by a law firm to a non-client&nbsp;is known as an &#8220;across-the-table&#8221; opinion. Providing an across-the-table opinion&nbsp;raises&nbsp;several&nbsp;important&nbsp;issues for&nbsp;the&nbsp;law firm&nbsp;issuing the opinion, particularly&nbsp;in relation to the scope of its duties towards the addressee and conflict of interest issues.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Structure of a legal opinion&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Over time, the structure of&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/anzlaw.thomsonreuters.com\/w-012-7771\" target=\"_blank\">legal opinions<\/a>&nbsp;used in financing transactions has become&nbsp;relatively&nbsp;standardised.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While the order can change depending on the preference of the issuing firm and their client, legal opinions typically&nbsp;contain the following sections:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Scope of opinion<\/strong>.&nbsp;A&nbsp;description of&nbsp;the matters the opinion covers and&nbsp;does not cover&nbsp;(tax law is usually excluded, although opinions are often given in relation to stamp&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/anzlaw.thomsonreuters.com\/w-004-0161\" target=\"_blank\">duty<\/a>&nbsp;payable in relation to finance documents).&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>Documents examined<\/strong>. This section&nbsp;will list the documents&nbsp;the law firm&nbsp;has reviewed for the purposes of&nbsp;giving&nbsp;the opinion such as the&nbsp;finance documents and&nbsp;any&nbsp;relevant&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/anzlaw.thomsonreuters.com\/w-004-4742\" target=\"_blank\">powers of attorney<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>Searches.<\/strong>&nbsp;This section lists the&nbsp;searches and enquires&nbsp;conducted in&nbsp;relation to the obligors&nbsp;(for example,&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/anzlaw.thomsonreuters.com\/w-007-4449\" target=\"_blank\">ASIC<\/a>&nbsp;searches)&nbsp;and&nbsp;in relation to&nbsp;any collateral&nbsp;provided as&nbsp;security&nbsp;by the obligors&nbsp;(for example,&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/anzlaw.thomsonreuters.com\/w-001-4813\" target=\"_blank\">PPSR<\/a>&nbsp;searches).&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>Opinions.<\/strong>&nbsp;This is the&nbsp;main section of the&nbsp;opinion where the law firm expresses conclusions on questions of law&nbsp;in connection with the transaction.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>Assumptions.<\/strong>&nbsp;The law firm will make&nbsp;assumptions&nbsp;in relation&nbsp;to factual matters&nbsp;that it&nbsp;cannot check by independent enquiry (for example, the&nbsp;authenticity of signatures).&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>Qualifications<\/strong>.&nbsp;The&nbsp;law firm&nbsp;will&nbsp;outline&nbsp;matters of law that qualify&nbsp;certain of the&nbsp;opinion&nbsp;given&nbsp;(for example,&nbsp;an opinion on the enforceability of the finance documents will usually&nbsp;be subject to a qualification which outlines the circumstances where&nbsp;a court will&nbsp;not enforce contractual obligations).&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>Reliance<\/strong>.<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>Under this section&nbsp;the law firm&nbsp;will list&nbsp;the persons that can&nbsp;rely on the opinion.&nbsp;Generally,&nbsp;this is limited to the&nbsp;original&nbsp;addressees of the opinion.&nbsp;However,&nbsp;depending on the transaction, the law firm may&nbsp;sometimes&nbsp;agree to expand reliance to a narrow class of transferees&nbsp;(for example,&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/anzlaw.thomsonreuters.com\/w-013-4073\" target=\"_blank\">transferees<\/a>&nbsp;of a&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/anzlaw.thomsonreuters.com\/w-005-9153\" target=\"_blank\">syndicated loan<\/a>).&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>Confidentiality<\/strong>. This section outlines the confidentiality and restrictions on disclosure of the opinion to third parties.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Refer to <a href=\"https:\/\/insight.thomsonreuters.com.au\/legal\/posts\/legal-opinions-in-australian-finance-transactions-101-part-2\">part two of this installment<\/a> for an examination of the standard legal opinions that are typically included in Australian law legal opinions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Practical Law Banking and Finance has&nbsp;recently published&nbsp;a number of&nbsp;new legal opinions resources, including several standard&nbsp;form legal opinions for use in domestic and cross-border financing transactions.&nbsp;To speak with a specialist about gaining access to Practical Law,&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/legal.thomsonreuters.com.au\/products\/practical-law\/contact-us.aspx?form=practical-law-trial\" target=\"_blank\">register your interest today<\/a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In most large banking and finance transactions, where the bank (or banks) have engaged an external law firm to draft the financing documents, the bank will almost always require a legal opinion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":3797,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[625],"tags":[61,1422,1421,425],"insight_job_role":[1361,628],"insight_practice_area":[571],"class_list":["entry","author-alexchernishev","has-excerpt","post-3795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-research-and-know-how","tag-banking-and-finance","tag-finance-documents","tag-legal-opinions","tag-practical-law","insight_job_role-compliance-officer","insight_job_role-solicitor","insight_practice_area-banking-and-finance-law","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Legal Opinions in Australian Finance Transactions 101: Part 1 - TR - Legal Insight Australia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In most large Australian banking and finance transactions, the bank will almost always require a legal opinion. 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He has more than 12 years' banking and finance experience at leading international and domestic firms in Australia and the United Kingdom, including Clayton Utz and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. Alex has extensive experience in a wide range of banking and finance transactions including corporate finance, project finance, debt capital markets, securitisation and derivatives.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/insight.thomsonreuters.com.au\/legal\/contributors\/alexchernishev\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Legal Opinions in Australian Finance Transactions 101: Part 1 - TR - Legal Insight Australia","description":"In most large Australian banking and finance transactions, the bank will almost always require a legal opinion. 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