a) Describe and discuss the different types and classifications of companies based on their liability. What type of company structure would you adopt in the following situations:

Having successfully run a local coffee shop for years, you now wish to expand your business and have two additional coffee shops in two new locations;

You are a sugar farmer and wish to form an entity to advance the position of all sugar farmers;

You are a mining magnate who is interested in exploration.

b) In this lecture, I have chosen to canvass a topic that has been the subject of intense discussion for a long time, but which remains fascinating and in significant parts unresolved. That is the problem of the veil to what extent can courts look behind legal structuresin determining the disputes before them? The topic of piercing the veil has been described as an unprincipledarea of the law (Hon Chief Justice M Warren AC Corporate Structure, the Veil and the Role of the Courts (2016) 40 MULR 657 at 659.) Critically discuss this quotation, paying particular attention to, eg, the James Hardie dispute. Do you agree? Analyse the situations under which the courts have pierced the veil and situations under which they have refused to do so. What are the themes?