BigLaw firm pays grads to go public

Minters nabs PE boss from KWM

Vic signs and formalises treaty

US firm Davis Polk is deploying an interesting recruitment tactic — offering US$25k to US law students who spend their summer in government, academia or non-profit roles before joining its 2027 summer program. The move marks a shift in how elite firms attract top talent, blending social contribution with commercial success. For context, Davis Polk’s first-year US associates earn US$225k: NB

MinterEllison has poached Lee Horan from KWM, naming him Head of Private Equity after two decades at the firm. Horan’s roster includes BGH, EQT, Apollo, CIC and Affinity, and he’s led deals from KKR’s Zenith Energy buy to Citigroup’s NAB sale: Point Blank

Norton Rose Fulbright will split from its South Africa arm, with Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban becoming an independent firm on 31 Mar 2026. NRF will keep its Casablanca and African alliances. The move follows Hogan Lovells and A&O Shearman retreating from SA: Global Legal Post

Kim Kardashian says ChatGPT “made me fail tests all the time” after she used it for “legal advice” while studying law. In a Vanity Fair lie detector video, she called the bot her “toxic friend” and said she’s even yelled at it: “You made me fail!”: Futurism

IP/Copyight: The Federal Government has introduced the Copyright Amendment Bill 2025, creating a new “orphan works” scheme for material whose owners can’t be identified or found. The Bill lets users reproduce or adapt such works (such as out-of-print books or archival footage) if they conduct a “reasonably diligent search”, keep records and display a clear notice. Failure to follow suit will leave companies exposed to infringement remedies. If a rightsholder later reappears, they can only claim a reasonable payment, not damages. The scheme won’t enable bulk AI training, as each use requires its own search and notice. The move gives publishers and filmmakers new flexibility, while copyright owners gain limited rights to future royalties but lose the deterrent bite of damages: JWS

Regulatory: ASIC has launched twin lawsuits over the collapse of the Shield and First Guardian Master Funds, alleging massive compliance failures by Interprac Financial Planning and misleading ratings by SQM Research. Interprac’s advisers allegedly steered 6,800 clients into $677m of high-risk super investments, using “negative consent” forms and boilerplate complaint responses. ASIC says Interprac ignored red flags and failed to stop inflows even after acknowledging serious issues. In a first-of-its-kind action, SQM Research is also accused of misrepresenting “favourable” fund ratings despite flawed analysis and missing data. Deputy Chair Sarah Court said both firms failed as “gatekeepers,” exposing Australians’ retirement savings to unacceptable risk. ASIC is now seeking civil penalties and bans to restore accountability: ASIC

Disputes/Construction: The NSW Court of Appeal has confirmed that property owners don’t have to let builders fix their own defects before claiming rectification costs. In a new decision, the Court rejected the idea of an “automatic” rule requiring owners to offer builders a chance to repair. Instead, builders bear the onus of proving an owner acted unreasonably in refusing access. The decision clarifies that there’s no special common law rule in building contracts on mitigation of loss, which means only the usual test of reasonableness applies. The decision means Owners can go straight to recovery, while builders, as the defendant in a proceeding, face a tougher task arguing mitigation: Thomson Geer

Victoria has made history as the first Australian state to sign a treaty with Aboriginal people, following nearly a decade of consultation and negotiation. The agreement, now enshrined in law, formally recognises First Peoples’ enduring connection to Country, acknowledges past injustices and commits to a “reset” relationship built on truth and equality: ABC

Labor has revived its plan to make Meta, Google and TikTok pay for news. It has launched a one-month consultation on a new scheme that charges any platform earning over $250m, potentially offset by deals funding Australian journalism. The policy applies to Big Tech whether or not they host news, closing the loophole Meta used in Canada when it pulled all news to avoid paying. Over to the tech giants to respond: Capital Brief

South32: could be circling Anglo American’s manganese assets as the mining giant looks to offload non-core operations post its $81bn Teck merger. Analysts say the assets could fetch billions, with South32 already owning 60% of the Samancor JV: The Australian

Greenstone: has pulled off a $1bn insurance-receivable refinancing that’s catching global attention. The Goldman-run deal is one of the few private credit securitisations done fully in AUD and with an investment-grade rating, opening the door for Apollo, Ares and other giants to buy Aussie dollar without swapping back to USD: The Australian

Investors are betting Trump will green-light tariffs on Chinese critical minerals, creating a price gap that pushes US buyers toward Australian supply. Analysts say it would reshape a China-dominated sector, boost Aussie rare earths, and give Canberra certainty to build its strategic reserve. With the Commerce report due any day, the market’s already positioning: The Australian

Gold Fields is lining up Aussie bank debt to refinance the US$2.3bn bridge it used to buy Gold Road Resources. After selling down its Northern Star stake, about US$1.6bn remains on the bridge, which matures in 2026. The miner expects to finish 2025 with US$1.1bn net debt and, if gold prices hold, swing to net cash by end-2026: Mergermarket

Justice Nye Perram has blasted ASIC’s $50m BBSW settlement with ANZ as “pretty tepid”, questioning why serious allegations ended in minor admissions and modest penalties. He drew comparisons to the multi-billion LIBOR fallout overseas, noting the lack of named traders or proven market impact: The Australian

HostPlus is sticking with its US and China bets, brushing off Trump’s tariff talk as short-term “noise” and staying fully invested. CEO David Elia says the fund won’t “bet against the US,” while also hunting selective China plays, steering clear of property. His view, no need to choose sides, just keep Australia’s biggest trade relationships humming: Bloomberg

After nearly two decades, Menulog will shut down in Aus, ending its run as Australia’s homegrown delivery app. The platform, once holding a 24% market share, has seen that plunge below 10% as Uber Eats and DoorDash tightened their grip. All despite heavy marketing spend, including Snoop Dogg and Katy Perry campaigns: AFR

Investa and Barrenjoey are circling Brookfield’s $450m half-stake in Sydney’s World Square towers, a sign the office rebound is finally sticking. It’s a classic counter-cyclical swing as fund managers rush back into A-grade CBD assets, betting on tighter vacancies and scarce new supply: The Australian

Anthropic will pour US$50bn into custom US data centres, breaking from cloud-only partners to build its own AI infrastructure. The Texas and New York sites go live from 2026, backed by UK firm Fluidstack supplying gigawatt-scale power. The move arms Anthropic for the next wave of Claude models as the AI arms race accelerates: Capital Brief

OpenAI is fighting a court order to hand over 20 million anonymised ChatGPT conversations in the New York Times copyright suit, warning it would expose highly personal user chats with “no link” to the claims. The Times says privacy fears are a misdirection, arguing OpenAI must show whether ChatGPT reproduced Times content: Reuters