Two more KWM heavyweights defect to G+T

ASIC promises record penalties next year

Judge spares sanctions over fake cites

A US firm has escaped formal sanctions after filing a brief with AI-fabricated case citations. A federal judge said their remedial steps — including a $5k donation, reviewing AI safeguards and offering to cover legal fees — were enough. The lawyer admitted he used AI to “polish” the brief, which quietly inserted fake authorities he didn’t catch: Reuters

Following Lee Horan’s move to MinterEllison, King & Wood Mallesons has lost two more senior partners. Francesca Giorlando and Brian Murphy have both resigned and are expected to join Gilbert + Tobin, the AFR reports. Giorlando spent 21 years at KWM, while Murphy joined in 1992 and made partner in 2002: AFR

The NSW District Court has set aside a default judgment against Care A2 director Kerry Anne Hyland, who’s in a $435k costs dispute with Piper Alderman. Judge John Catsanos SC said Hyland had an arguable defence, rejecting the firm’s claim it was a “sham”. Hyland alleges negligence and duress tied to a $200k settlement deed she says was pressurered to sign: Lawyers Weekly

A new Wellbeing at the Bar Report shows progress, but 27% of UK barristers still say they’re not managing workloads well. Job satisfaction and mood are up, yet criminal, family, junior, female and minority barristers remain under the most strain. The Bar Council says culture is shifting, but an “underfunded system” keeps pressure sky-high: Legal Cheek

Regulatory: ASIC has unveiled its 2026 enforcement priorities, zeroing in on misleading pricing, private credit misconduct, dodgy financial reporting, and claims and complaints failures by insurers. Deputy Chair Sarah Court says the regulator is running “more investigations, more court actions, and securing record penalties”, with new risks emerging as cost-of-living pressures bite. ASIC will also elevate its probe into the collapse of the Shield and First Guardian funds to a standalone priority, calling it one of its biggest cases ever. Continuing priorities remain insider trading, predatory credit, small business creditor evasion, super trustee failures and auditor misconduct. With tougher scrutiny on unlisted asset valuations and private credit, ASIC is signalling a big enforcement year ahead: ASIC

Employment: The FWC Full Bench has ruled that an employer can’t refuse a flexible work request just because it clashes with an enterprise agreement. Paper Australia tried to reject an employee’s long-running flex arrangement on the basis it could breach the enterprise agreement and attract penalties. The Commission said rights under the national employment standards trump enterprise agreement terms. Inconsistency alone isn’t a “reasonable business ground”. Only genuine operational impacts—cost, staffing gaps, inefficiency or rostering difficulties—can justify a refusal: Allens

Consumer/Disputes: ASIC is seeking $85m in penalties against Harvey Norman and Latitude Finance over ads touting “no deposit, 60 months interest-free” deals that courts found misleading. The regulator’s counsel Naomi Sharp SC told the Federal Court the conduct sat at “the very serious end of the spectrum”, urging $50m against Harvey Norman and $35m against Latitude. The campaign, aired 900,000 times across TV, radio and print, failed to disclose that offers required a Latitude GO Mastercard, attracting fees and charges. Sharp slammed Latitude’s apology as “performative” and said Gerry Harvey’s dismissive comments showed “no culture of compliance”. ASIC’s demanding penalties that send a message to Australia’s biggest advertisers: Lawyerly

The backlash was instant as soon as Victoria announced it wanted to let 14-year-olds be sentenced as adults. The Allan government’s “adult time for violent crime” plan would shift serious youth offences into the County Court, meaning adult jail and longer sentences. Human rights, legal and Indigenous groups say it copies Queensland’s extreme laws and will punish traumatised kids, not prevent crime, especially as youth crime rises 15.7% statewide: The Guardian

Netflix is taking the right approach to performance reviews — having none. Instead it runs on constant, candid feedback and its famous “keeper test.” CTO Elizabeth Stone said that managers and staff constantly assess whether they’d fight to keep each other, with promotions and pay reviews acting as the only structured checkpoints. Netflix calls it a culture of continuous feedback: Business Insider

Southern Cross–Seven: has cleared its first big hurdle, with the ACCC saying it won’t oppose SXL’s takeover of SWM. The watchdog found the two aren’t close competitors across ads or content, with radio and TV/news sitting in different lanes and digital platforms doing most of the heavy lifting anyway: ACCC

Mayne Pharma: is back in limbo after FIRB pushed its deadline to 17 November, extending a takeover already bogged down in drama. Cosette’s been trying to ditch the $7.40-a-share deal, citing plans to shut Mayne’s SA plant, while Chalmers flagged blocking it on national-interest grounds. With court fights and Panel action in play, the clock’s ticking: Capital Brief

MinRes and founder Chris Ellison are back under ATO scrutiny, with a fresh probe into possible income-tax and fringe-benefits breaches tied to sweetheart commercial deals, discounted equipment buys, related-party transactions and misuse of company resources: AFR

While Twiggy shifts his tune, Orica is pressing ahead with its $432m taxpayer-backed green hydrogen project, saying the venture is “not economic” without government support. It’s now hunting a renewables partner after Origin bailed, arguing gas market reform is critical to keeping east-coast manufacturing alive: The Australian

Westpac has backpaid $50m to 47,000 underpaid staff, plus interest and super, after 11 years of payroll failures. It’s also copped a record $800k contrition payment as the FWO warned big corporates to lift their compliance game. The bank blamed broken systems and oversight gaps, and says it’s upgraded processes to prevent the next wage headache: The Australian

IFM Investors is raising about A$3bn in debt to fund its takeover of Swiss data-centre operator Green Group, lining up six banks with Nomura arranging the deal. The loans will be syndicated to more than a dozen lenders. With Europe racing to meet AI-era capacity needs, IFM is making a play for the data-infrastructure boom: Bloomberg

GYG is tapping the brakes on its US expansion, saying it won’t grow beyond 15 planned stores until they hit Australian-level weekly revenues. With the share price down nearly 40% and big US rivals cutting outlooks, the chain is refocusing on value and smaller portions as weight loss-driven demand shifts the fast-food industry: AFR

Qantas is creating 400 new tech roles as it pushes to make Adelaide Australia’s aviation AI capital. It has launched a government-backed innovation centre that opens in March. The hub will house engineers, designers and data specialists building smarter check-in, better baggage tracking and AI tools for when trips go sideways: The Australian

Social media unicorn Linktree has bought Melbourne startup Fingertip, absorbing its five-person team in another local acquisition as it builds a full-stack creator toolkit. Fingertip’s booking, invoicing and content-block features will fold into Linktree’s platform before May 2026: Capital Brief

AI-infra startup Firmus has tripled its valuation to $6bn in just two months after a fresh $500m raise. The cash will supercharge Project Southgate — its mega Tasmanian data-centre campus — and fund expansion into four mainland regions. With Nvidia and CDC signed on with Firmus to build national “AI factories”, Firmus says it’s manufacturing Australia’s first homegrown, sovereign-scale AI infrastructure: AFR