Kirkland & Ellis will stop sharing its financials with AmLaw, saying disclosure offers clients no “meaningful value”. Last year, the firm just posted a record US$10.6bn in revenue, and equity partners took home US$11.1m each, up 20%. Handy timing. With Kirkland spending US$500m on AI, clients might start asking why their bills aren’t shrinking while partner pay keeps climbing: Point Blank, FT

⚖️ Privilege: A report can be privileged under Australian law even if it was prepared in a country that doesn’t recognise legal professional privilege. In White Oak’s $200m+ Greensill claim against IAG, Tokio Marine and BCC, Thawley J of the Federal Court upheld privilege over a 2020 report by Japanese firm Mori Hamada & Matsumoto. The report was confidential, and Tokio Marine couldn’t have been compelled to produce it in Japanese civil proceedings. What matters is confidentiality, not the foreign label. White Oak’s waiver argument also failed. Tokio Marine’s “limited disclosures” to Japan’s Financial Services Agency, whose officials were bound by confidentiality, weren’t inconsistent with maintaining privilege: Lawyerly, Federal Court of Australia

⚖️ Employment: The Fair Work Commission has ordered Victoria University to let a 63-year-old student adviser work from home one day a week for a six-month trial, accepting that commuting fatigue can be age-related. The uni argued her claim that commuting was “increasingly tiring” lacked medical evidence and wasn’t connected to her age. Commissioner Oanh Tran disagreed, finding medical evidence isn’t necessary. Workers over 55 need only show a connection to their age to trigger appeal rights. The uni’s preference for in-person student contact was a reasonable ground to refuse her two-day request: AFR

⚖️ Tax/M&A: New foreign resident CGT rules kicked in on 1 October 2026, and they make deals involving land-connected assets a lot trickier. “Real property” now goes beyond its ordinary meaning to cover land rights, licences, fixtures, water entitlements and options, likely sweeping in energy, infrastructure, mining and data-centre assets. The test for whether an entity is land-rich also shifts from a point-in-time snapshot to a 365-day look-back, so historic valuations now matter. For share or unit deals of $50m+, vendors must notify the ATO before completion, or purchasers must withhold 15%. Deal teams should tackle CGT analysis from signing, not leave it to completion: HSF Kramer

Forget WFH, now you can WFC: work from the cricket. Cricket Victoria is selling $16 desks at Junction Oval, with Wi‑Fi and a barista coffee included, so you can work through a Sheffield Shield match. Three Melbourne lawyers gave it a crack and swore they had a productive day, though none would give their full names: AFR

Kmart has pulled its $89 smart glasses, which film video and snap photos through a camera hidden in the frame, after 57,000 people signed a GetUp petition over covert filming. Now Privacy Commissioner Carly Kind is investigating Shenzhen Qingcheng, the Chinese company behind the glasses’ app: SMH

📉 Firmus has officially pulled the pin on its $7.9bn IPO, which would’ve been the biggest ASX float since Telstra in 1997. After books closed short at $11 a share, the board decided the terms didn’t reflect the business’s value. Investors reportedly said bankers pitched the valuation too aggressively and went “too early and too greedily”. Firmus will now chase private capital from existing backers, and that could get pricey: with no float by 30 Nov, backers Nvidia and Blackstone get extra shares, diluting other shareholders. Spare a thought for HSF Kramer, reportedly acting, whose prospectus is now gathering dust: AFR, Capital Brief, Law.com

🩺 Ashurst Perkins Coie has advised clinical AI company Heidi on a US$340m funding package that values it at US$900m, almost double its last round. It’s made up of a US$100m Series C led by Blackbird, plus a US$240m growth investment from General Catalyst, which gets a capped share of revenue rather than equity: Point Blank

🌯 Starbucks has reportedly been working with advisers on a takeover proposal for Chipotle, sending the burrito chain’s shares up 6.2%. Analysts are sceptical about synergies, and with Chipotle worth about US$41bn, it’d rank among the biggest restaurant deals ever: Bloomberg

Fortescue and partner Formosa Steel are suing pipe supplier Clover Pipelines, alleging breach of contract over defective, leaking pipes for its $6.2bn Iron Bridge mine. Replacement costs could top US$100m. Meanwhile, Fortescue left almost 4 million tonnes of iron ore unsold last quarter amid a pricing standoff with Beijing’s central buyer: AFR

The RBA has named Apple Pay a priority issue in its payments review, its strongest hint yet at regulation. Banks led by CBA say Apple’s fees haven’t budged since 2015. Apple says no action’s needed (shock). The central bank is also eyeing American Express, with priorities due by the end of 2026: Capital Brief

Coles boss Leah Weckert says shoppers have turned more cautious since mid-year, with four rate hikes and a likely fifth in November meaning “every dollar matters more”. Coles is leaning into value, pricing 200 Christmas products at $10 or less. She expects food spending to hold up, while discretionary retailers cop the cutbacks: The Australian

Meta has banned TikTok’s Chinese backer ByteDance from advertising on its apps in seven countries, including the US. The feud escalated after Meta agreed to a US$18bn settlement requiring new child safety features, then pushed TikTok to adopt the same protections. TikTok hasn’t. Meta calls the ban “normal business practice”: Bloomberg