Self-repped litigants armed with ChatGPT and Claude as their "legal adviser" have flooded the Federal Circuit Court, with general protections claims (including unfair dismissal) up almost 50% this year. Dentons' Paul O'Halloran says judges now wade through AI slop while confirmation-biased applicants refuse to settle for anything less than "something ridiculous": AFR

⚖️ IPOs: ASIC has proposed changes that would let companies advertise IPOs earlier, even before a prospectus is out. Under the proposal, companies can promote unquoted securities as long as they identify the issuer and seller, confirm a prospectus will be ready by listing, and point investors to that prospectus as the key source of information. It's a loosening of the current rule, which bans advertising floats that need a disclosure document, aimed at stopping selective drip-feeding of information and encouraging investors to rely on the prospectus itself. The changes follow ASIC's review into public and private markets: Capital Brief

⚖️ Corporate: The Full Federal Court has dismissed two appeals in Der Sarkissian v QGold, backing the compulsory acquisition of the remaining Carawine Resources shares under Ch 6A of the Corporations Act. Minority shareholders argued the expert's $0.11 "fair value" ignored earlier trades at up to $0.14 per share. Perram, Cheeseman and Longbottom JJ confirmed that while an expert must "take into account" historical trading under s 667C(2), that evidence is simply a check on the valuation, not a floor. Low liquidity meant the expert was entitled to discount those higher trades: Federal Court of Australia

⚖️ Regulatory: ASIC has hit Auditeo Australia and lead auditors Ajm Khan and Brian Taylor with Federal Court proceedings over alleged audit failures tied to the collapsed First Guardian Master Fund. ASIC alleges Auditeo issued an unqualified audit report for 2021, with its own files allegedly showing no audit was ever done that year. ASIC also claims that roughly $137m in assets also went untested in 2022, ballooning to $170m in 2023, and compliance plan checks were allegedly wrong for 2022 and 2023. First Guardian collapsed just six months after those clean audits, with liquidators warning of losses up to $446m across more than 6,000 investors: ASIC

Pay secrecy has long been the norm in the Australian legal market — lawyers comparing notes over drinks, but nothing on the record. We’re curious how the profession feels about changing that.

In a first, the Fair Work Commission has banned a Sunshine Coast caretaker from using AI to write complaints against her employer, calling her AI-drafted emails "lengthy, wide-ranging, replete with generalisations, repetitive". Her bullying claim still succeeded, her writing style didn't: AFR

Former radio host Alan Jones's trial kicked off in Sydney this week, 22 charges of indecent assault and sexual touching, all pleaded not guilty. The judge-only trial will run four months with 76 witnesses, including six complainants alleging offending between 2003 and 2020: TDA

🚗 FleetPartners shares jumped nearly 16% after PEP-owned SG Fleet lobbed a $769m non-binding offer at $3.60 a share, a 27% premium. G+T are advising SG Fleet, while HSFK is in FleetPartners' corner: Capital Brief

🏥 Regis Healthcare is expanding its home care footprint, signing a cash-funded deal to buy Royal Freemasons Homes of Victoria's home care business. The deal picks up roughly 480 clients and should add $10m-plus in revenue: Capital Brief