The Asia Pacific is the world's fastest-growing legal market, but it's also the most misunderstood. Firms have rolled in with big plans and retreated just as quietly, blaming geopolitics when weak regional knowledge was just as often the culprit. It's 30-plus distinct markets, not one — civil law here, common law there. Still, the growth signals are hard to ignore: Simpson Thacher is back in Singapore after 22 years, Clyde & Co pinched 18 from DLA Piper in Bangkok, and PE money is flooding Japan: Law.com

⚖️ Finance/Corporate: Parliament has passed the Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Bill 2025, bringing digital assets into the AFSL regime for the first time. The Bill creates two new financial product categories: Digital Asset Platforms (where operators hold digital tokens for themselves or clients) and Tokenised Custody Platforms (where operators hold real assets and issue a corresponding digital token). Operators of both will need an AFSL and must meet ASIC-developed standards on asset holding, transactions and disclosure. There's a $10m low-value exemption for smaller DAP issuers, and a 6-month transition window after commencement for existing providers to obtain a license. Royal Assent is still pending: G+T

⚖️ Employment: Payday super kicks in from 1 July 2026, requiring employers to pay employees' super within 7 business days of each pay run, with the funds needing to actually be received and allocable by the fund to count as on time. The old 200% penalty is gone, replaced by a far more proportionate 50% late lodgment penalty, only triggered after two 28-day warning windows. Late super payments and SG charge are now tax deductible, though interest on outstanding SG charge isn't. Practically, employers need to fully integrate super into electronic pay runs, keep employee fund data current to avoid rejected payments, and check that employment contracts permit the necessary payroll changes: HWLE

⚖️ M&A: Takeover bids are quietly lethal, with 82% of the 23 ASX-listed companies subject to a bid in 2025 ending in a change of control. Schemes of arrangement remain the dominant deal structure, but they need target board co-operation, and when boards won't play ball, a hostile bid is often still enough to get the job done. Recent examples include bids for Hotel Property Investments, Pacific Smiles and Elanor Commercial Property Fund, each succeeding despite initial board resistance. Target directors remain legally obliged to act in long-term shareholder interests, but with fund managers under growing pressure to lock in short-term premiums, that tightrope is only getting narrower: HSF Kramer

Ben Roberts-Smith spent tens of millions fighting Nine's 2018 war crimes reporting in a 100-day Federal Court defamation trial, only to lose, with Justice Besanko finding on the balance of probabilities that he was complicit in four murders. Until now, the stakes were reputational and financial. They aren't anymore. Arrested at Sydney Airport, he's now facing five counts of war crime murder, each carrying life. The charges cover the alleged killing of unarmed, surrendered detainees across three Afghan missions between 2009 and 2012: Capital Brief, ABC, BBC

Trump has hit pause on US strikes against Iran for two weeks, contingent on Tehran fully reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's Supreme National Security Council has confirmed the ceasefire, calling it "a victory for Iran" with new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei signing off on the deal. Markets didn't wait for the fine print: oil dropped over 12% on the news: Capital Brief

🚀 SpaceX is targeting a jaw-dropping US$75bn raise in its IPO, pencilled in for June, which would more than double Saudi Aramco's US$29bn record set in 2019. The Musk-owned rocket and satellite giant is eyeing a US$1.75 trillion valuation post-listing, which would value it above Meta and Tesla in the S&P 500: Bloomberg

🍺 The ACCC has flagged MicroStar's (trading as Kegstar) acquisition of collapsed rival Konvoy's assets for a Phase 2 review, concerned it could substantially lessen competition in keg pooling services: ACCC

🏥 KKR has hired UBS to explore options for its majority stake in Synergis, the unlisted disability housing trust that could fetch up to $1bn. Synergis invests in specialist disability accommodation across Australia for NDIS participants, managed by not-for-profit SIIP: The Australian