Clifford Chance has formalised its local partner tier, with seven lawyers making the inaugural round. It's salaried and sits outside the global partnership. For some, it's a stepping stone, for others, a final destination. This isn't a new strategy — 90%+ of the AmLaw 100 now run some version of non-equity partnership. The highest-paid partners in the US earn up to US$40m. The equity circle stays tight for a reason: Point Blank

⚖️ Regulatory: ASX has settled with ASIC over misleading continuous disclosure statements. It has admitted that its February 2022 claim that the CHESS replacement project was "progressing well" was false. By that date, the project had been internally classified as "red" for weeks, with significant unresolved risks and no prospect of hitting its April 2023 go-live date. ASX will pay a $20.5m penalty plus $3m in ASIC's costs, subject to court approval, putting the litigation to bed just hours before trial: Capital Brief, AFR

⚖️ Corporate: Two recent NSW decisions have clarified the s 181 good faith standard for directors. In Sunnya Pty Ltd v He, the NSW Court of Appeal held that a director's belief they're acting in the company's interests must be both honest and rational, rejecting the subjective/objective debate as a false dichotomy. In Empireal, a director who voted to appoint administrators across a group and restructured the businesses to shed external debt was cleared, because his belief in insolvency was genuinely and rationally held. The court also confirmed that s 181 duties only bite when you're acting as a director of the relevant company, so steps taken on behalf of a different entity in the group, even if harmful to another, fall outside the provision: Stanton & Stanton

⚖️ Employment: The Fair Work Commission has found that a barrage of AI-generated workplace emails can ground a valid reason for dismissal. In Wibmer v Fujifilm Data Management Solutions, an employee with 11 years' tenure and a clean record sent numerous lengthy, combative and legalistic emails to management after a dispute with a colleague, many drafted with AI assistance. The FWC found the communications were dense, repetitive and inappropriate for work, and that AI appeared to give the employee a false sense of legitimacy. The employee was found "ungovernable" and the dismissal upheld.

DDLoop is the day-1 due diligence platform trusted by leading deal lawyers at HSF Kramer, MinterEllison, Lander & Rogers, Talbot Sayer, Kain Lawyers and more.

Turn your ASIC, PPSR, IP and Court searches into an interactive deal space that helps you work – with structure charts, live monitoring and reporting straight into your firm's Word precedents.

Gerry Cawson, Director & Co-Head of M&A at Kain Lawyers said: “Once people used DDLoop, they did not want to go back… the old way of doing searches felt immediately and obviously inferior by comparison.”

Try it on your next deal →

Albo's CGT overhaul is already getting a patch job, barely weeks after budget night. With criticism mounting that the new regime hits shares and small businesses as hard as housing, the government is scrambling to fast-track carve-outs for start-ups and low-capital-cost businesses before the legislation passes on 2 July. Chalmers is dropping draft proposals this week: AFR

The UK is banning under-16s from TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Facebook and X, with Starmer explicitly crediting Australia as the template. Legislation is expected by December. Trump won't be happy, with the US embassy already pushing back on "broad social media bans": The Australian

🛣️ Atlas Arteria has knocked back IFM Investors' sweetened $7.4bn takeover bid, calling the lifted $5.10-a-share offer (up 7.4% from the original April approach) too low and short of a control premium. IFM, which already holds 34.6%, labelled it "best and final": AFR

⛽️ Woodside Energy has moved quickly to shut down takeover speculation, confirming it's not in discussions with ExxonMobil and isn't aware of any proposal. The denial follows a Bloomberg report that Exxon is studying potential acquisition targets, including Woodside: Capital Brief

📺 Fox Corporation is snapping up streaming platform Roku in a cash-and-stock deal valuing the business at ~US$22bn (A$31bn), or US$160 a share. Lachlan Murdoch is calling it a natural fit, pairing Fox's live news and sport content with Roku's 100 million-plus subscribers: AFR