Simpson Thacher missed the deadline to appeal its client Aramark's blocked UK merger by a single day, blaming a "misinterpretation of the rules." The Competition Appeal Tribunal wasn't having it, refusing an extension despite the "significant" fallout. A professional negligence claim now looms. At US$7.7m average partner profits, you'd think someone could read a calendar: FT

⚖️ AI/Employment: AI recruitment tools are now mainstream in Australia for screening, scoring and shortlisting candidates, but efficiency doesn't sidestep discrimination law. There's no AI-specific legislation yet; existing frameworks like the Fair Work Act, Disability Discrimination Act and state anti-discrimination statutes apply regardless of whether a human or algorithm makes the call. The real risk is indirect discrimination. For example, language-heavy assessments that filter out candidates for whom English is their second language or algorithms that penalise career gaps, which may disproportionately affect parents returning from leave. Using a third-party tool won't shield employers either; if the process is discriminatory, liability stays with the employer: Lander & Rogers

⚖️ Contract: When do contracts have a good faith duty? There's still no High Court authority for a universal implied duty of good faith in Australian contracts. The presence, content and scope of any good faith obligation depends on the contract's terms, context and commercial purpose. But, courts have recognised three pathways: (1) implication in fact under the BP Refinery test, most persuasive in long-term or relational deals where an opportunistic exercise of rights would undercut the bargain; (2) implication in law, suggested by NSW Courts particularly for franchises and joint ventures; and (3) constructional limits on discretions, preventing powers like termination or pricing being exercised arbitrarily or for an extraneous purpose: KWM

⚖️ Regulatory/Corporate: ASIC Chair Joe Longo used his address at the AICD Governance Summit to give a boardroom pep talk. Longo acknowledged that the boardroom seat isn't as comfortable as it once was — the director role has been fundamentally reshaped over the past decade. Drawing on the Star Entertainment judgment, Longo reinforced three expectations of directors: directors are paid to properly engage with information, can't substitute management's advice for their own scrutiny, and being overwhelmed by board papers is no excuse. On AI, Longo urged every board to set a clear use policy now, warning that agentic AI will be an inflection point in how organisations manage governance risk: ASIC

ASIC chair Joe Longo calls AI the most significant area of change for company directors today. While CBA chairman Paul O'Malley reckons the big AI platforms like OpenAI and Anthropic are quietly hollowing out the Australian economy, shipping value offshore while we foot the bill. His thinking is that if the tax base shrinks because global tech giants are extracting GDP, funding becomes harder. He's pushing Albo to regulate and tax the platforms before Australia becomes a "passive consumer of value created elsewhere": AFR

Never been a better time to be a billionaire. Forbes' 2026 list hit a record 3,428 billionaires worth a combined US$20.1tn, up US$4tn on last year. Elon Musk tops it again at US$839bn, roughly doubling his fortune. The US claims 989 of them. Meanwhile, a record 35 under-30s made the cut, with the three 22-year-old co-founders of AI recruiting startup Mercor now the youngest self-made billionaires ever listed: Forbes

🏦 Goldman Sachs and Barrenjoey are running the sale of Colonial First State for owners KKR and CBA, targeting north of $5bn. But consulting giant Mercer has walked after extensive DD late last year, deciding the price didn't stack up. This is the second crack at an exit after a quiet process stalled in 2024: The Australian

👷‍♀️ Goldman Sachs is running the sale of Ausco Modular, Brookfield's Queensland-based portable buildings business, expected to fetch well north of $1bn. Ausco pulls in $512m revenue and $83m after-tax profit, dwarfing ASX-listed comp Fleetwood: AFR