Seven Aussie law firms have already ditched full partner ownership, with Wotton Kearney 21% owned by Straight Bat and Hamilton Locke's parent HPX Group shopping for a private equity buyer. We’re seeing the same PE movement in the US too. Partners can't fund the AI arms race from drawings alone. HSF Kramer's Rebecca Maslen-Stannage isn't sold, saying senior HSFK lawyers “love their partnership culture”: AFR, FT

⚖️ Trusts: Discretionary trusts remain a go-to structure in Australia for asset protection, tax efficiency and estate planning, but they're not set-and-forget. Hall & Wilcox provides a breakdown. The structure grants the trustee discretion over distributions, allows income to be split among beneficiaries at lower marginal rates, and generally keeps trust assets beyond a beneficiary's creditors' reach. But there are trade-offs: losses are trapped inside the trust and can't be passed to beneficiaries, undistributed income is taxed at the top marginal rate, and trustees face personal liability if they breach their duties: Hall & Wilcox

⚖️ Governance: In the ASIC v Star judgment, Lee J had pointed words for directors who say board papers are too long to read. The NEDs argued the volume of material made full review unreasonable, but the Court rejected that outright. Directors are expected to control the flow of information they receive, take a diligent interest in it, and apply an enquiring mind. Lee J also flagged AI-assisted summaries of board papers, noting they're not inherently objectionable but warned against a "quiet normalisation" of unregulated reliance on AI distillations: KWM

⚖️ Disclosure: ASIC is consulting on new proposals to beef up transparency around who actually owns and controls listed entities. The reforms broaden disclosure requirements to capture interests held through equity derivatives, not just direct holdings. That means investors quietly building positions via swaps or other derivative exposures will face greater scrutiny. ASIC's Consultation Paper 387 covers a new legislative instrument, a revamped Substantial Holding Notice form, and updates to RG 5, RG 9 and RG 222. Submissions close 21 April: ASIC

OpenAI is being sued US$10m for practising law without a licence. Nippon Life settled a disability claim with a former claimant, who then asked ChatGPT whether her own lawyer was "gaslighting" her. ChatGPT said yes, encouraged her to fire the lawyer, then helped her draft and file dozens of motions, subpoenas and notices. The filings were gibberish, cited non-existent cases, and were all dismissed. Nippon argues it copped massive costs dealing with the AI-powered paper blizzard: Reuters

The Iran conflict hit the sporting pitch when five Iranian women's soccer players refused to sing their national anthem at the Women's Asian Cup in the Gold Coast, then broke free from government minders to seek asylum. Iranian State TV branded them "wartime traitors." Trump warned Australia would be making a "terrible humanitarian mistake" if they were sent back. Canberra granted humanitarian visas following a late-night US-AU phone call: Bloomberg

🛏️ Koala has opened books on a $68m IPO at $3.40 a share. The online furniture retailer has fetched a $260m enterprise valuation — 10.5x forecast pro forma FY26 EBITDA. Barrenjoey is underwriting with Morgans as JLM and Highbury Partnership advising. Co-founder Dany Milham isn't selling, while Mitch Taylor is cashing out roughly $12m. Listing's slated for 1 April: AFR

💾 AirTrunk has locked in a US$1.2bn (A$1.7bn) green loan to refinance and expand its flagship TOK1 data centre campus in Tokyo, scalable to over 300MW. SMBC, MUFG, Crédit Agricole and SocGen led the deal across a 12-bank syndicate. The Blackstone-backed operator's total Japan investment now tops US$8bn: AFR, Capital Brief