Small Business Legal Report 2026
Sprintlaw and government data on the legal issues facing Australian small businesses in 2025–26.
By Alex Solo, Co-Founder, SprintlawPublished October 2026What small businesses come to Sprintlaw for
Share of Sprintlaw legal jobs by area, each financial year. Contracts come first every year.
- Contracts & customers29.2%
- Shareholders, investment & sales14.4%
- Online, data & privacy14.0%
- Brand & IP12.9%
- Employment & contractors9.8%
- Starting & structuring9.1%
- Other6.5%
- Leases4.2%
Show the numbers
| Area | 2018–19 | 2019–20 | 2020–21 | 2021–22 | 2022–23 | 2023–24 | 2024–25 | 2025–26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contracts & customers | 39.4% | 36.1% | 29.7% | 29.0% | 31.3% | 34.0% | 30.1% | 29.2% |
| Employment & contractors | 9.1% | 7.3% | 7.0% | 8.0% | 8.4% | 8.7% | 9.4% | 9.8% |
| Starting & structuring | 2.8% | 2.2% | 4.8% | 10.1% | 8.6% | 10.2% | 9.9% | 9.1% |
| Shareholders, investment & sales | 10.4% | 8.6% | 10.8% | 15.3% | 15.3% | 15.3% | 15.0% | 14.4% |
| Brand & IP | 10.8% | 19.9% | 19.4% | 11.7% | 11.4% | 11.7% | 11.3% | 12.9% |
| Online, data & privacy | 16.7% | 16.4% | 17.2% | 12.4% | 10.9% | 10.3% | 12.8% | 14.0% |
| Leases | 4.8% | 1.9% | 3.3% | 3.4% | 4.7% | 4.3% | 5.6% | 4.2% |
| Other | 6.1% | 7.6% | 7.8% | 10.1% | 9.3% | 5.5% | 5.9% | 6.5% |
Source: Sprintlaw legal jobs, 2018–19 to 2025–26Notes
Sprintlaw legal jobs for Australian clients, mostly small businesses, 2018–19 to 2025–26: more than 17,000 jobs, de-identified and aggregated. Each job is counted once, by its main area. Sprintlaw clients are not a random sample of Australian businesses: they lean towards start-ups and online, professional and technology businesses, and Sprintlaw does not run court cases. The full method is in the free report.
Digital platforms, getting paid and leases top the dispute lists.
Disputes as counted by the Ombudsman, commissioners, courts and tribunals that handle them.
What 2,314 Small Business Ombudsman disputes were about, 2025–26
- Digital platformsDisputes with the online platforms that give businesses access to customers, marketplaces and advertising. Owners often struggle to reach someone who can review a decision.92540%
- Getting paid70731%
- Franchising23010%
- Contracts2009%
- Everything elseEverything the Ombudsman did not class as a digital platform, payment, franchise or contract dispute, including financial services and insurance.25211%
Source: Small Business Ombudsman, 2025–26Notes
Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, Small Business Data Portal: 2,314 disputes that needed a dedicated case manager in 2025–26, each with one primary type (retrieved 27 September 2026). Shares are rounded. In 2024–25, getting paid was the largest type (631 of 1,518, 42%; Treasury Annual Report 2024–25, pp. 261 and 265).
Leases are about half of NSW and Victorian commissioner disputes
- NSW Small Business Commission1,045 of 1,960 · 202553%
- Victorian Small Business Commission855 of 1,611 · 2024–2553%
Source: NSW and Victorian Small Business Commission annual reportsNotes
NSW Small Business Commission Annual Report 2025, p. 21 (lease applications received, of all applications managed); Victorian Small Business Commission Annual Report 2024–25, p. 8.
Where disputes are heard
- NSW Local Court small claimscalendar 202555,239
- Victorian Magistrates’ Court civil complaints2024–2529,708
- Fair Work Commission unfair dismissal claims2024–2516,500
- QCAT minor civil disputes, excluding tenancy2024–257,212
- Fair Work Commission general protections dismissal claims2024–256,209
- Small Business Ombudsman case-managed disputes2025–262,314
- Federal Court judgments in six business law areas2025–26724
Source: Court, tribunal, commission and Ombudsman reports; Federal Court judgmentsNotes
Annual reports of the NSW Local Court, Magistrates’ Court of Victoria, Fair Work Commission, QCAT and Small Business Ombudsman; Federal Court judgments sorted by Sprintlaw. Latest year for each, in each body’s own unit, so never added up.
Needs differ by business age.
Online and privacy work is 22% of Sprintlaw jobs for first-year businesses, and 10% for businesses six or more years old. Contracts rise from 26% to 34%, and employment from 7% to 12%.
Contracts & customersEmployment & contractorsStarting & structuringShareholders, investment & salesBrand & IPOnline, data & privacyLeasesOther
Source: Sprintlaw legal jobs, 2024–25 and 2025–26Notes
Sprintlaw legal jobs in 2024–25 and 2025–26 where the business told us its start year, by how long it had been going, de-identified and aggregated.
What owners say they need help with.
The legal priorities owners pick when they join Sprintlaw. Choose a business like yours.
All businesses · about 5,080 businesses
- Contracts65%
- Compliance45%
- Privacy & data43%
- Brand & IP42%
- Structure & registration40%
- Employment33%
- Governance21%
Source: Sprintlaw onboarding answers, July 2024 to September 2026Notes
Sprintlaw onboarding answers from more than 5,000 Australian businesses, July 2024 to September 2026, de-identified and aggregated. Owners can pick several, so shares add to more than 100%.
Trends we spotted.
Official figures on what goes wrong, from the agencies that count it.
Company insolvencies
14,153
companies entered external administration or had a controller appointed in 2025–26, −3.9% on 2024–25.
General protections dismissal claims
+47%
July to December 2025, compared with July to December 2024. Unfair dismissal claims +18%.
Unfair dismissal claims
16,500
unfair dismissal claims in 2024–25, +11.7% on the year before.
The ACT had the most company insolvencies per 10,000 businesses. Western Australia and Tasmania had the fewest.
Company insolvencies for every 10,000 businesses, 2025–26. Pick a state to see where its disputes are heard.
Australian Capital Territory
67.8 per 10,000 businesses
256 companies · −10.5% on 2024–25 · 37,785 businesses
Where disputes go in the ACT
- ACAT civil applications2023–24 · 1,366 the year before1,634
- ACAT debt claims2023–24 · 711 the year before899
No small business commissioner dispute figures published; ACAT’s latest review is 2023–24.
Source: ASIC Series 1 and ABS business counts, 2025–26Notes
ASIC insolvency statistics (Series 1) by company’s state, divided by trading businesses at June 2026 (ABS Counts of Australian Businesses), because the ABS does not count companies by state. This compares states; it is not the share of businesses that failed. Dispute counts: each state’s commissioner, tribunal and court annual reports, in their own periods.
Six things to check this year.
One for each area, and each from a real court decision. Open a row to see what happened.
Contracts, customers & paymentsOnly advertise discounts, ratings and prices you can prove.
$1 million penalty
- 29%
- of Sprintlaw's legal jobs, 2025–26: Contracts & customers
- 65%
- of owners joining Sprintlaw list contracts as a legal priority
How to check
- You keep the evidence behind every ‘was’ price, discount and star rating you show.
- Online prices show the total cost up front, including any fee customers must pay.
- Before a sale or campaign, someone clicks through from the ad to checkout the way a customer would.
Advertised discounts, customer ratings and prices were admitted to be misleading
Bloomex admitted making false representations about discounts, customer ratings and total prices on its website. Declarations, injunctions and a compliance program were agreed, and the Court fixed the contested penalty at $1 million.
ACCC v Bloomex Pty Ltd [2024] FCA 243Penalty judgment (liability admitted)
Ownership & governancePut every share deal in writing before any money moves.
$100,000 ordered repaid to each buyer, with interest
- 14%
- of Sprintlaw's legal jobs, 2025–26: Shareholders, investment & sales
- 21%
- of owners joining Sprintlaw list governance as a legal priority
How to check
- Every share sale has a signed agreement covering price, payment dates and transfer steps.
- The share register and ASIC records change only after a valid, signed transfer.
- A shareholders agreement covers exits, deadlock and how owners settle disputes.
A largely undocumented share sale became a fight over price, control and ownership
Two buyers paid for shares in a private company without a formal written agreement, then were excluded from the business. The Court found the sellers' conduct oppressive and unconscionable, declared that a form lodged with ASIC recording the shares as transferred back to the sellers did not transfer them, and ordered two of the sellers to repay each buyer's $100,000 with interest, with the buyers to transfer the shares back.
Liu v Miller-Kovacs, in the matter of Privato Enterprises Pty Limited [2025] FCA 1296Final judgment (costs quantified later)
Privacy & dataBefore you buy a business or system, check how it protects customer data.
$5.8 million penalty
- 14%
- of Sprintlaw's legal jobs, 2025–26: Online, data & privacy
- 43%
- of owners joining Sprintlaw list privacy and data as a legal priority
How to check
- Data security is part of your checks before you buy any business, system or database.
- You know what personal information you hold, where it sits and who can reach it.
- If the Privacy Act applies to you, a breach plan names an owner and meets the 30-day deadline to assess a suspected breach.
Data-security and breach-response failures became separate privacy contraventions
Australian Clinical Labs admitted failing to take reasonable steps to protect personal information on IT systems it acquired when it bought the assets of another pathology business, Medlab, and failing to properly and promptly assess the cyberattack and to notify the Commissioner as soon as practicable once it knew there had been a data breach. The Court ordered an agreed civil penalty of $5.8 million.
Australian Information Commissioner v Australian Clinical Labs Limited (No 2) [2025] FCA 1224Penalty judgment (agreed penalty)
Brand & intellectual propertyCheck who already uses a name before you build your brand on it.
Claim lost and its own trade mark cut back
- 13%
- of Sprintlaw's legal jobs, 2025–26: Brand & IP
- 42%
- of owners joining Sprintlaw list brand and IP as a legal priority
How to check
- The trade mark register, business names and the web are searched before you choose a name.
- The name you trade under is registered, for the goods and services you actually sell.
- You have checked for earlier local users, since even one can own a name for the services it provides.
An Adelaide business sued over its trade mark, lost, and had the mark cut back
An Adelaide business applied in 2016 to register mercato, Italian for market, as a trade mark, then sued the company planning the Mercato Centrale food hall in Melbourne. The Court found mercato centrale was not deceptively similar and dismissed the claim. It also found a Daylesford restaurant had used the name mercato before the business applied, so the business did not own the mark for café and restaurant services, and food and drink services at cafés, restaurants, bars and hotels were cut from its registration.
Caporaso Pty Ltd v Mercato Centrale Australia Pty Ltd [2024] FCA 138Final judgment (register wording and costs settled later)
Employment & workplaceWrite down the real reason before you dismiss anyone.
$82,230 in penalties, payable to the employee
- 10%
- of Sprintlaw's legal jobs, 2025–26: Employment & contractors
- 33%
- of owners joining Sprintlaw list employment as a legal priority
How to check
- The real reason for any dismissal is written down, with the evidence behind it.
- A compensation claim, a complaint or time off sick or injured plays no part in the decision, and any concern about capacity rests on medical evidence.
- Leave and pay records are complete, so you can show what was paid and why.
A manager was pushed out after a silicosis diagnosis and a compensation claim
A stone benchtop business decided its production and installation manager could not keep working after he was diagnosed with silicosis, with no evidence that he could not do the job. Because he had made a workers compensation claim, it removed his work vehicle, mobile phone and fuel card and failed to pay his leave entitlements. It then ended his employment, which the trial court found was because of his disability, his compensation claim and his questions about unpaid leave. On appeal, the Federal Court reset the penalties at $82,230, payable to him, on top of $142,631 compensation and $20,000 damages already awarded.
Willis Brothers Installations (Qld) Pty Ltd v Ruttley [2023] FCA 1147Penalty appeal (dismissal findings not disturbed)
Financial distress & insolvencyTake security before you give credit, not after a customer falls behind.
$197,068 ordered repaid, plus interest
- 14,153
- companies entered external administration or had a controller appointed, 2025–26 (ASIC)
- 83%
- of 2024–25 liquidator and administrator reports estimated 0 cents in the dollar for unsecured creditors (ASIC)
How to check
- Once a customer falls behind, new work is paid for up front or as it is done, or guaranteed by a third party.
- Larger or riskier customers give a deposit or a personal guarantee.
- When a customer keeps paying late, you get advice before agreeing to a payment plan.
A supplier was ordered to hand back payments it had chased from a failing customer
A family crane-hire business kept supplying a customer that paid late, then froze its account, chased the overdue debt and accepted weekly part payments. When the customer collapsed, its liquidators sued to recover payments made in the six months before it went into administration. The Court found a reasonable business in its position would have suspected the customer was insolvent, and rejected its running account, good faith and set-off defences. It ordered repayment of $197,068 of the $308,545 claimed, plus interest; three payments for a job paid for as the work was done were not preferences.
Stone v Melrose Cranes & Rigging Pty Ltd, in the matter of Cardinal Project Services Pty Ltd (in liq) (No 2) [2018] FCA 530Final judgment (interest and costs settled later)
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