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👋 G’day

Today’s brief:

  • Ashurst Perkins Coie officially launches

  • US law firms beat Magic Circle in London

  • Two EY grads snoop on Albo’s bank details

Here’s your latest, PB #{{join_number}} 👇

WORD ON THE STREET

Merger goes live

Ashurst Perkins Coie is officially open for business, and it has a new look and new pitch. Mint and dark teal colouring and a "built for what's next" pitch. The merged firm is betting big on three sectors: technology, energy and infrastructure, and financial services. With 950+ partners across 52 offices in 20 countries, it's also landed on a single global profit pool: Point Blank

  • Two EY graduates on secondment at Commonwealth Bank allegedly snooped on Albo’s personal banking details and at least one senior EY partner's account. Both are now sacked and facing criminal charges. CBA spotted the breach and dobbed them in: AFR

  • The US firms are beating Magic Circle firms in their home turf. Paul Weiss tops London's most profitable firm list, averaging £2m+ revenue per lawyer, while sole Magic Circle survivor A&O Shearman scrapes in at 10th with £1.2m. Kirkland & Ellis partners pocketed £8m+ each, while Linklaters and Clifford Chance partners take home a measly £2.2m and £2.1m: Canadian Lawyer

PRACTICE POINTS

Supermarket crackdown

⚖️ Consumer: Coles and Woolworths are now subject to the world's first supermarket-specific anti-price-gouging laws, operative from 1 July under amendments to the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct. The rules prohibit pricing "significantly excessive compared with the cost of supply plus a reasonable margin", but there's no fixed threshold. Only retailers clearing $30bn in annual revenue are caught, so Aldi, Amazon and Chemist Warehouse sit safely outside. The ACCC says its first-year focus is monitoring, not enforcement. Still, the penalties aren't small: $10m, three times the benefit gained, or 10% of annual turnover, whichever is greater: AFR

⚖️ Duty of Care: When does a local distributor breach its duty of care to consumers over a product defect it didn't know about? The NSW Court of Appeal tackled that very question after Mr and Mrs Alizadeh's fridge caught fire in 2019. The fridge was manufactured by LG's South Korean parent and distributed in Australia by its wholly owned subsidiary, LG Australia. The parent had flagged a microswitch defect in a 2011 voluntary recall, but the Alizadehs' serial number fell outside the recall range. They argued LG Australia should've pushed the parent for more information. The Court disagreed: a distributor can rely on its parent's information without further inquiry, as long as it has no reason to doubt its accuracy: Maddocks

⚖️ Corporate: David Fairfull, former CEO of AI marketing company Metigy, has been sentenced to nine years' imprisonment after pleading guilty to making false and misleading statements to investors and dishonestly using his position as a director for personal gain. Between 2018 and 2021, Fairfull fed investors fabricated revenue figures across multiple capital raisings, pulling in just over $39m on the back of those lies. He also caused Metigy to lend him $7.7m to fund a residential property purchase. Justice Abraham called the conduct "deliberate, premeditated, sophisticated and rational": ASIC

TOGETHER WITH MALLESONS

Where you start shapes where you go. As a Seasonal Clerk at Mallesons, you’ll experience top-tier law from day one, gaining hands-on exposure to market-leading transactions and complex disputes. Supported by mentors and colleagues invested in your growth, you’ll learn from the best at a firm with more Band 1 practices and lawyers than any other Australian firm for eight consecutive years.

Learn. Master. Lead.

TALKING POINTS

Property pullback

Did you hear…

Albo's CGT shake-up is already rattling the property market, with auction clearance rates hitting their lowest since COVID lockdowns in Melbourne and Sydney. CBA is tipping flat prices, while NAB reckons a 2% drop is coming. The PM says that's actually the point — fewer investors overbidding means first-home buyers get a fairer crack: AFR, ABC

Also…

Corporate Australia is getting a nasty surprise: AI costs compound fast once you tell everyone to use it. Uber burned through its entire annual AI budget in three months. Now, Westpac's CEO tracks his own token usage in real time, while CBA is capping consumption: AFR

DEAL ROOM

Hostile defence

👟 Accent Group, owner of HypeDC and Athlete’s Foot, is urging shareholders to knock back Frasers Group's zero-premium 65c-per-share hostile bid, warning the British retail giant hasn't paid its own shareholders a dividend in 15 years and intends to cut Accent's payouts immediately if it gets control: AFR

🏗️ FDC Group has lodged its IPO prospectus with ASIC, targeting a $400m raise at $3 a share ahead of a 9 July ASX listing. UBS and MA Moelis are JLMs, with Allens, Deloitte and KPMG advising: Capital Brief

⛏️ Wiluna Mining is targeting a $160m–$200m IPO at 65-70c a share, valuing the WA gold miner at up to $320m on relisting after four years off the market following voluntary administration: AFR

SECTOR SNAPSHOT

Redundancy fight

DIGGERS

🚜 Greatland Resources' flagship WA mines hold 62% more gold than previously estimated, with total reserves now sitting at 5 million ounces across Telfer and Havieron after just 12 months of drilling. The sites also harbour 196,000 tonnes of copper, with Greatland now Australia's third-largest ASX-listed gold miner: AFR

FIN

🏦 ANZ is facing a Federal Circuit Court claim from an ex-tech general manager, who alleges he was made redundant in January as reprisal for bullying complaints against his boss, COO Megan Anderson. He's also lodged a Comcare claim for psychological injury, and is seeking $420k+ plus court-imposed penalties against the bank: The Australian

RETAIL + REAL ESTATE

🏠 Lendlease has sold its 904-home UK build-to-rent portfolio at London's Elephant Park to Greystar for $260m, in line with December book values. It's the second deal in two days for the embattled developer, which is under investor pressure to offload assets faster under a turnaround plan pushed through by activist investors two years ago: AFR

TECH + STARTUPS

📱 A parliamentary committee has labelled Apple "deeply anti-competitive" on payments and wants the ACCC to do something about it. Australia's banks are locked out of Apple Pay's tap-and-go tech, yet still pay Apple 15 basis points per transaction. With digital wallets now handling 43% of card payments, the committee wants banks to have the right to collectively bargain back: Capital Brief

P.S.

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