RollOnFriday's 2026 career development rankings are out. Paul Weiss topped the list, with staff calling it "pushed but supported." HSF Kramer made it into the top ten. The rest of the Magic Circle? Not so flash: Clifford Chance, Linklaters and Freshfields all landed in the bottom third, with one Freshfields partner admitting you'll be "waiting around" for partnership: RollOnFriday

⚖️ Corporate: ASX has been told its risk and compliance practices aren't fit for purpose, with a regulator-commissioned probe warning failures could seriously damage Australia's financial markets. ASIC has released the ASX Inquiry Panel's Final Report, capping off a nine-month deep dive into governance, capability and risk management across the ASX group. The Panel pulled no punches: resilience of critical market infrastructure has been sacrificed for shareholder returns, governance arrangements are inadequate, and cultural barriers are blocking meaningful change: ASIC

⚖️ Disputes: The Victorian Court of Appeal has confirmed that a Calderbank offer doesn't need to involve a monetary payment or concession to constitute a genuine compromise capable of grounding an indemnity costs order. Where two interveners had already racked up significant legal costs and the only relief either sought was costs, an offer to withdraw and waive that entitlement was compromise enough. The Court found the rejecting party had failed to engage productively with a reasonable settlement opportunity, and ordered indemnity costs from the offer's expiry.

⚖️ IP: Bodum lost its misleading and deceptive conduct claim against Maxwell & Williams in the Federal Court, despite Maxwell & Williams openly admitting it had copied Bodum's double-walled glass designs after their registered design protection expired in 2014. The Court found no secondary reputation in the shapes themselves, and that prominent Maxwell & Williams branding on the products and packaging was enough to prevent consumer confusion, even where the shapes were near-identical: Hall & Wilcox

Victoria's about to pass the world's first right-to-work-from-home laws, giving employees two days a week at home from September. Business groups are furious, with around 60% of Committee for Melbourne members saying it's already harder to operate in Vic than elsewhere. Melbourne's CBD office vacancy is already the nation's highest at nearly 20%, and the new laws have landlords, cafes and small businesses bracing for things to get worse: Bloomberg

With the oil crisis biting, Albanese is backing Australian industry with government cash. A $1bn interest-free loan fund from the National Reconstruction Fund is heading to truckies, farmers and freight companies struggling with fuel costs, mothballed refineries could be next for a bailout, and the May budget is shaping up as his most ambitious yet, with a windfall tax on gas exports and CGT changes also on the table: AFR

🛰️ Amazon is in talks to acquire Globalstar, the US-based low-earth-orbit satellite group, as it pushes to build out its own LEO network. Globalstar's shares jumped 24% on the news, valuing the business at around $8.8bn: FT

📋 Quadrant Private Equity is kicking off a $500m sale process for project management firm TSA Riley, pitching to buyers globally. Engineering giants like AECOM and WSP, cost managers like Turner & Townsend, and even the Big Four are circling: The Australian

🛒 Danone is back circling Made Group (Rokeby, Cocobella) in TPG Capital's $1.5bn+ sale process, five years after activist investor pressure scuppered its first tilt. Chinese consortium New Hope is the wildcard, known for paying big on consumer assets: The Australian