A&O Shearman launches Aussie property team

A solicitor stole £400k to fund cars, homes

Westpac worker wins permanent WFH

A&O Shearman has poached Dannelle Howley from Squire Patton Boggs to launch a real estate practice in Sydney. A former A&O counsel turned Squires partner, Howley brings top-tier experience across funds, private capital and government clients: Point Blank

Harvey’s new chief business officer John Haddock (ex–Stripe) says the legal AI giant’s edge lies in context and real life workflows. His 50-person team of ex–BigLaw lawyers helps firms weave Harvey into daily workflows, with its “BigLaw Bench” testing each model release. Backed by half the Am Law 100, Haddock says they’re “just getting started”: NB

Former Essex solicitor Sean Callaghan has been jailed for four years after stealing almost £400k from clients across nearly two decades. Working at BMTK and Palmers, he siphoned estate funds, inflated fees and forged invoices to fund home renovations, a classic car and overseas property: Point Blank

Abu Dhabi’s new Civil Family Court is fast becoming the go-to venue for the ultra-rich to marry, split and settle compared to overburdened courts like those in England. Lawyers say cases can wrap in under 10 days, with payouts hitting $270m. The fully online, bilingual court is now attracting expats, asset managers and family offices chasing privacy, speed and secular rulings: Financial Times

IP: Nike has lost its trade mark challenge against Canberra’s Eastlake Football Club, after IP Australia ruled the club’s “arc-like” logo wasn’t deceptively similar to Nike’s iconic swoosh. Delegate Benjamin Goldsworthy found the club’s mark featured an inverted arc and triangle, giving consumers a distinct overall impression. The shared arc element, he said, wasn’t enough to confuse the public - “the trade mark’s arc looks more like an abstract curve or planetary ring.” Despite Nike’s “very extensive reputation,” the tribunal held there was no real risk of confusion or deception, rejecting its arguments under sections 44, 60 and 62A of the Trade Marks Act: Lawyerly

Disputes/Defamation: A new Defamation Bill in Queensland has been introduced to modernise liability rules for digital platforms and administrators. The Bill clarifies when platforms, page admins and search engines can be liable for defamatory posts, including when statutory exemptions apply to passive intermediaries. It also creates a new defence for admins who maintain a clear complaints process and act swiftly to remove offending content once notified. Courts would gain broader powers to unmask anonymous posters, order takedowns, and remove defamatory content even where the platform isn’t a defendant. The reforms aim to align Queensland with other states and curb “forum shopping”, while balancing free speech with reputation protection in the social media era.

Disclosure: The Federal Court’s rulings in Worley, ANZ and Zonia are reshaping how companies interpret “constructive awareness” under the continuous disclosure regime. The key question: when does data stored deep in corporate systems count as “information the company has”? The Court says a company is aware that reasonable systems ought to have surfaced that information to an officer, and that officer ought to have recognised its significance. But in Zonia, shareholders failed to show that CBA breached its disclosure duties when the Court ruled that while key percentages could be calculated from CBA’s data warehouse, no person actually knew or should have known those figures. While companies don’t need to adopt forensic data mining, their information systems and escalation processes must be sufficient: KWM

A Westpac worker has won a landmark Fair Work case, forcing the bank to let her work from home permanently after it failed to justify a two-day office rule. Karlene Chandler, a 20-year veteran, moved two hours from Sydney for her kids’ schooling and argued remote work was essential. The Commission found Westpac offered no “reasonable business grounds” to refuse. In fact, Westpac had allowed her to WFH for years before requiring her to return to the office: AFR, The Age*

The Albo government plans to let regulators strip companies of profits made from breaking environmental laws, under a landmark reform bill due within weeks. Murray Watt says the overhaul will also define what counts as an “unacceptable impact” and give a new EPA power to issue stop-work orders: The Guardian

WA’s boutique brokers are raking in profits as capital raisings for gold miners surge 57% to $4.2bn, fuelled by prices soaring past $US4,000/oz. But after gold’s 5.3% plunge this week, fears are growing that the rush is a bubble. Some warn investors could get burned by low-quality deals, echoing past gold booms that halved in value when the shine wore off: The Australian

Oaktree Capital is using private debt from Ares and Barings to fund the purchase of Perpetual’s wealth arm, after a KKR deal collapsed. Perpetual’s wealth unit will be absorbed by AZ NGA, a business that Oaktree acquired last December: Bloomberg

Major lithium producers are divided over Albo’s proposal to set a price floor as part of a national critical minerals stockpile aimed at curbing China’s market power. While Resources Minister Madeleine King says a floor could give miners price certainty, others warn it would prop up uneconomic rivals: AFR

Platinum is the latest precious metal to surge, with prices spiking 6.4% in London to $1,646/oz, the biggest jump since 2020. The spot–futures gap blew out to $53, hinting at a rush for physical metal, echoing last month’s silver squeeze. Analysts say it’s “an odd time” for a crunch, given China’s record exports, but market liquidity is “clearly stressed.” Mining.com

ANZ’s HR boss Kathy Tingate told the Federal Court she was “uncomfortable” after being taken to a lap dancing bar by a senior banker, admitting she should’ve filed a complaint. The revelation came during ex-trader Etienne Alexiou’s $30m wrongful dismissal suit, which has exposed a booze-fuelled culture inside ANZ’s global markets team over a decade ago: AFR

Westpac’s defunct arm RAMS has admitted to years of misconduct, letting unlicensed lenders approve home loans and falsify documents to push deals through. Justice Yaseen Shariff questioned whether the $20m penalty was enough to deter others, calling it “basic” that banks ensure accredited staff: The Australian

After WeWork’s collapse, co-working is quietly booming again. The Commons’ Cliff Ho says his new Sydney space even has a bowling alley. With office demand shifting to flexibility, operators like The Commons, Hub Australia and Wotso are thriving, offering cafes, bars and wellness hubs. Flexible leases, community vibes and five-star amenities are now the new corporate must-haves: AFR

Dexus is offloading The Bond tower in Barangaroo for about $280m, with AsheMorgan in due diligence to buy the A-grade building. The sale price tops its $260m book value, signalling a turnaround in Sydney’s office market as investors bet on rising demand, lower interest rates and fewer leasing incentives across prime precincts: The Australian

OpenAI has launched ChatGPT Atlas, its first AI-powered web browser, setting up a new showdown with Google Chrome. The browser lets users “Ask ChatGPT” to summarise pages, book flights or edit docs in real time. CEO Sam Altman calls it a “once-a-decade opportunity” to rethink browsing, as Google shares slid 4.8% on the news: Bloomberg

Speaking of OpenAI, the company has quietly won two federal government deals worth $75k, giving the ChatGPT maker its first foothold in Canberra. The Digital Transformation Agency now urges departments to use public AI tools like ChatGPT for OFFICIAL-level data, while OpenAI’s Chris Lehane says Australia could build a “sovereign AI model” blending local language, culture and talent: Startup Daily