KWM, Ashurst, Allens top reputation rankings

Court refers lawyers to Board for AI mistakes

Vic swings axe, while YouTube blasts ban

Prosple’s 2026 Reputation list shows grads are still (somewhat unsurprisingly) chasing the big brands, with KWM, Ashurst and Allens the most coveted employers. The revamped ranking measures pure aspiration, stripping out application volumes to reveal where grads actually want to work: Point Blank

The FCFCOA has referred a South Australian solicitor and two Victorian counsel to their regulators after they filed court material laced with AI-generated errors. The solicitor was hit with $10k in costs and blamed a paralegal who’d since been fired. Judges warned practitioners must verify any AI-sourced authorities: Lawyers Weekly

Top firms say disputes work is surging as class actions, ACCC and ASIC enforcement, and energy-transition fights ramp up. HSF Kramer and Ashurst report record activity, while King & Spalding has launched locally with disputes at the core. Partners expect the next wave to come from AI litigation as corporates battle over failures, compliance and who’s liable when an algorithm goes rogue: Law.com

Slater & Gordon has settled with ex-chief people officer Alicia Gleeson, who claimed she was sacked after alleging the firm’s decade-long leave underpayments were deliberate. Both sides will cover their own costs. The firm still faces a separate claim from her successor, Mari Ruiz-Matthyssen, over last year’s payroll data leak: AFR

Compliance: ASIC says too many companies still fall short on whistleblower protections, after a review of 134 entities found weak spots. More than a third of entities had no dedicated whistleblower reporting page, a quarter offered no regular staff training, and over half hadn’t sought employee feedback in the past year. Larger and mining-sector companies showed the strongest practices, but ASIC noted size is no excuse — several small entities outperformed big corporates. ASIC is now urging companies to strengthen channels, allow anonymous disclosures, and fix non-compliant programs. The Regulator says it will engage with entities showing non-compliant or weak programs: ASIC

Employment: It’s that time of year again - silly season. And end-of-year functions remain a legal minefield. Employers can be liable for misconduct at work events — and even at kick-ons — where there’s a sufficient connection to employment. Courts have held that unlawful conduct after an official event can still “arise out of” work. WHS duties also continue at work-sanctioned social events, and regulators may act where risks like alcohol, poor supervision or unsafe transport were foreseeable. Employers are urged to set clear behavioural expectations, actively manage event risks, and train managers: Clyde & Co

Corporate: Boards facing activism must apply ordinary fiduciary duties but with sharper scrutiny on process, disclosure and conflicts. Treat activism as a standing governance risk: monitor the register for stake-building, run tracing notices and stress-test public disclosures, especially ESG-related disclosures. Once agitation surfaces, bring in independent legal, financial and PR advisers early, as every statement can be weaponised. Defensive options include tightening constitutional nomination rules, testing shareholder associations and, if needed, litigating misleading conduct or defamation. While formal settlements are rare, companies often quietly concede targeted changes such as board refreshes, strategic reviews or capital management tweaks: Thomson Geer

Victoria is taking the knife to its bureaucracy. Jacinta Allan’s government will cut 1000 public service jobs, shut 29 public entities and curb consultant spend to claw back $4bn over four years. It’s a softer version of Helen Silver’s review, which urged 2000 job cuts. With net debt barrelling toward $194bn, the pandemic-era stimulus and staffing spikes have created a budget risk the government can’t ignore: AFR

Bruce Lehrmann has lost his appeal, with the full Federal Court upholding the finding that he raped Brittany Higgins on the balance of probabilities. Judges rejected claims of unfairness and agreed Lehrmann knew Higgins hadn’t consented. Higgins said she can “finally breathe again”, calling the appeal a retraumatising attempt to weaponise the legal system. He now faces more costs and separate criminal matters in Tasmania and Queensland: TDA, The Guardian

Paramount Skydance: in a move that would eclipse most large Aussie deal price tags, the entertainment company has hiked its breakup fee to a staggering US$5bn (A$7.6bn) in its bid for Warner Bros Discovery. That more than doubles the earlier $2.1bn figure. A clear move of confidence it can clear merger hurdles. WBD previously knocked back a ~$60bn bid in October: Reuters

SGX: is weighing a second crack at Australia, holding early talks to buy Cboe Australia, the ASX’s main rival with about 20% of local trading. Cboe’s parent has put the unit up for sale amid ASX outages and regulatory heat, and any buyer will need ASIC sign-off. NZX and Nasdaq have also been floated as possibles as brokers push to keep competition alive: AFR

Woodside’s Meg O’Neill has cemented her reputation as one of the sector’s boldest operators, green-lighting a $27bn US LNG project despite choppy markets and no partners at the time. Five years in, she’s doubled down on gas, taken control of the Gippsland Basin JV, navigated the bruising North West Shelf approvals fight and pulled back from unprofitable “new energy” bets: AFR

Glencore is plotting a major copper revival. It’s targeting 1m tonnes a year by 2028 to claw back from a multi-year output slump that’s left production 40% below 2018 levels. With its share price under pressure, CEO Gary Nagle has kicked off a sweeping operational review, cutting 1,000 jobs and chasing $1bn in cost savings to get the Swiss giant back on track: Mining.com

NAB is doubling down on its turf, creating a new cross-bank “best bankers” squad to defend its lead in medium-to-large business lending as CBA and Westpac ramp up. Led by Casey Morecroft, the team folds in credit, lawyers and wealth specialists to speed up approvals and win bigger clients: AFR

BlackRock, Goldman and the likes are muscling into Australia’s $4.5tn super system, lured by huge household wealth and a chronic adviser shortage. The opportunity is massive, but so are the hurdles — there’s tougher compliance and costs. Still, global firms see a “golden age” in plugging the gap: Bloomberg

Dexus is set to raise $500m+ in two long-dated bond tranches as it reshapes its capital stack. The 30-year notes — one floating, one fixed-to-float — extend maturities to 2055 and boost funding flexibility after recent asset sales. The office landlord is leaning on debt markets to free up cash for new opportunities: The Australian

AirTrunk boss Robin Khuda is building a side empire, snapping up $75m in industrial and commercial sites via his new Onterra venture. The strategy is simple: buy land-rich, unfashionable blocks in Sydney and Melbourne and bank on tightening supply. It’s a sharp contrast to AirTrunk’s mega–data centre builds: The Australian

YouTube says the government’s under-16 social media ban will make kids less safe by stripping supervised accounts of playlists, controls and wellbeing tools — a claim Communications Minister Anika Wells called “outright weird”. The proposed 10 Dec ban is pushing many kids to new, unregulated apps like Yope and Lemon8 as Canberra scrambles to keep pace: The Australian

Canberra’s push for “sovereign AI” has tech firms circling. The National AI Plan hints at local capability and onshore data, but stops short of defining whether ownership, access or control is key. With OpenAI, Nvidia and CDC all lobbying, experts say Australia may need a shift toward “AI agency” to balance sovereignty with global supply chains: Capital Brief