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👋 G’day

Today’s brief:

  • New revenue per lawyer data revealed

  • Judge names and shames six colleagues

  • SpaceX debuts in the biggest IPO in history

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

WORD ON THE STREET

Revenue rankings

New Best Law Firms survey data puts the national average at $562k revenue per lawyer, with small firms (2–20 lawyers) quietly topping the table at $595k, ahead of large firms at $555k. The range across all firm sizes is just over $60k. The real gap isn't size, it's reach. Per 2025 data, HSFK leads the top-tier pack at $1.06m RPL, with domestically focused firms like Allens and MinterEllison sitting below $500k. See the full breakdown here: Point Blank

  • Federal Court Justice Ian Jackman went nuclear in a speech at the Rule of Law Institute on Thursday, publicly shaming six colleagues for judgment delays stretching up to three years. Justice Farrell copped it hardest, retiring on a full judicial pension mid-case and leaving it for someone else. Justice Murphy got two mentions: The Australian

  • US Big Law is spending millions on AI tools designed to automate junior work, then hiking associate salaries anyway. Milbank fired the first shot, lifting first-years to US$235k. Clients were promised AI would mean cheaper legal fees. Meanwhile, recruiters are saying firms are "investing in both" tech and people to find what works: Bloomberg

PRACTICE POINTS

Discount drama

⚖️ Consumer: JB Hi-Fi is refunding over $250k to roughly 200 consumers after the ACCC raised concerns about misleading "was/now" pricing across 17 products, including laptops, a VR headset and a gaming monitor. The regulator alleges that products were either never sold at the higher "was" price, only sold there briefly, or only at that price long before the promotion. The ACCC resolved the matter administratively given JB Hi-Fi's cooperation, proactive remediation and the small number of affected products. The broader message is clear though: discount claims must be genuine, not cosmetic. The ACCC is still investigating several other retailers from last year's Black Friday sweep: ACCC

⚖️ Corporate: Drag-along rights are a private company staple, but the Takeovers Panel has made clear they don't translate to public companies. In Mobile Asset Holdings Ltd, a board-controlled unlisted public company tried to insert drag-along and tag-along provisions into its constitution via special resolution, allowing majority holders to compel minorities to sell in any control transaction. The Panel declared the provisions gave rise to unacceptable circumstances, finding the mechanism circumvented Chapter 6 by enabling compulsory acquisition of minority shares without adequate protections: Hamilton Locke

⚖️ Employment: Employers can't rewrite part-time work patterns just because it's operationally convenient. In Poynton v Davmat Investments, the employee had an agreed pattern of Monday to Friday, 9am to 3pm. When the employer sought to vary both days and hours unilaterally, the FWC drew a sharp line under the Children's Services Award: cl 10.4(d)(ii) permits an employer to change only the days worked with seven days' notice, but changing hours requires written agreement under the general rule in cl 10.4(d)(i). Days and hours are separate questions with different rules under the award. Employers should check the applicable modern award before touching any part of a part-time arrangement.

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TALKING POINTS

Hanson cashes in

Did you hear…

Labor ran ads urging supporters to donate to "fight" One Nation's rise. Hanson fired back with her own "Fire the Liar" campaign, hitting $1m by Wednesday night, and clearing $2m by Thursday. Albo then publicly questioned whether the donations were even real. An independent audit is now promised: TDA

Also…

Trump spent Thursday doing what he does best: moving markets with his phone. He posted at breakfast that the US would bomb Iran "VERY HARD TONIGHT", tanking equities and spiking oil. Five hours later, he cancelled the strikes and announced a peace deal was basically done, with VP Vance heading to Europe to sign it this weekend. Iran says large parts are finalised but it hasn't agreed yet: AFR

DEAL ROOM

Trillion-dollar debut

🚀 SpaceX has pulled off the biggest IPO in history, raising US$75bn (A$106.4bn) by selling 555.6m shares at US$135 each, valuing the company at roughly US$1.8 trillion. Retail investors alone placed over US$100bn in orders, well over the 20% of shares allocated to them, and BlackRock reportedly tipped in US$5bn: Capital Brief

⛏️ Wiluna Mining is staging an ASX comeback, more than two years after being suspended and tipped into voluntary administration. Barrenjoey and Argonaut are running a non-deal roadshow ahead of a $200m raise at a $350m enterprise valuation: AFR

⚒️ Larvotto Resources has launched an all-scrip $54m takeover of copper-gold explorer Hammer Metals, with Glencore agreeing to cough up $15m in exchange for new Larvotto shares at a 15% premium: SMH

SECTOR SNAPSHOT

Strike contingency

DIGGERS

🚜 BHP is hiring freelance electricians at up to $93.60/hr to keep Port Hedland running as two unions ballot for strikes. A 24-hour stoppage could cost $100m+, and unions are already warning BHP not to undermine lawful industrial action with replacement workers. Meanwhile, Fortescue has signed a co-management deal with the traditional owners of Juukan Gorge, letting the PKKP people buy a mining fleet and lease it back for profit: AFR, The Australian

FIN

🏦 Westpac's retail head Carolyn McCann has admitted the bank's cost base is too high, spending ~$1,300 per customer versus CBA's $700. Not to fret, the bank has cost-cutting plans. Westpac plans to slash costs via digitalisation, automation, and a $3bn "Unite" tech overhaul consolidating multiple platforms, with AI embedded into the app by Q1 FY27: Capital Brief

RETAIL + REAL ESTATE

🏠 Super Retail Group is pushing Rebel Sport into regional markets, targeting 200+ stores by 2031, up from 161. The goal is to lock out rivals like Sports Direct and Decathlon before they can scale. An extra $90m in capex over three years funds the push, with $75m in annual savings expected by FY29: AFR

TECH + STARTUPS

📱 AirTrunk has filed in the Federal Court seeking preliminary discovery against rival Zerra DC, suspecting it misused IP obtained via former staff. No formal claim yet, but if documents stack up, a full IP suit follows. Also, Firmus co-founder Oliver Curtis, convicted of insider trading in 2016, is being dragged back into court to give evidence in a $140m share dispute ahead of the company's planned $7bn ASX IPO: AFR

P.S.

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