AFR’s most powerful people in law list is out. Gina Cass-Gottlieb takes top spot, ahead of royal commissioner Virginia Bell and NSW Chief Justice Andrew Bell. HSF Kramer’s Rebecca Maslen-Stannage also made the top five. Attorney-General Michelle Rowland, who topped it last year, missed the cut after a slow-going reform run: AFR

⚖️ Disputes/AI: A US court has thrown out a case after the plaintiffs submitted deepfake evidence. In Mendones v Cushman and Wakefield, they filed video and audio exhibits plus screenshots of messages. The Superior Court of California grew suspicious of the flat facial expressions and stilted cadence in the videos, and ordered the metadata and in-person appearances from the person who filmed them and those depicted. The metadata didn’t add up, with at least two exhibits found to be AI-generated. The court lacked the resources to test the rest, but dismissed the entire action for submitting false testimony: Mondaq

⚖️ Corporate: ASIC has sued former Super Retail Group CEO Anthony Heraghty, alleging he breached his s 180 duties and gave misleading information under s 1309(2) of the Corporations Act. ASIC alleges he had an undisclosed relationship with a senior executive and failed to manage the conflict. He allegedly kept supervising them, took part in decisions on their remuneration, incentives and redundancy package, and joined board discussions about complaints over the relationship. ASIC also alleges information given to the board and market omitted the relationship: ASIC

⚖️ Consumer: digiDirect has paid $99k in penalties after the ACCC issued five infringement notices over allegedly misleading discount claims. In a court-enforceable undertaking, the retailer admitted its "price slashed" strikethrough pricing breached the Australian Consumer Law. The products, including a mini wireless keyboard advertised at $149 against a $229 strikethrough, were rarely advertised and almost never sold at the higher price. The ACCC spotted the conduct during a Black Friday sales sweep. ACCC Deputy Chair Mick Keogh warned the regulator is actively monitoring retail pricing claims: ACCC

Qantas and Virgin are charging up to quadruple the usual fare to fly footy fans into Melbourne for Saturday's Grand Final. Brisbane-Melbourne return tickets start at $1,658 and $1,728, with Perth fans copping over $2,400 just to get there. Former ACCC boss Rod Sims calls it straight-up price gouging: Bloomberg

Albanese just signed a joint statement with 19 other countries and the EU pushing for transparent AI safety protocols and shared reporting on serious incidents. Naturally, the US and China, the two actually building frontier models, sat this one out: Capital Brief

🙅 Perpetual has knocked back a revised takeover proposal from EQT and ended engagement altogether, with the board flagging unacceptable execution risk for shareholders. Ingenia Communities has also said no to a sweetened $5.05-a-security bid from Warburg Pincus, but the board stays open to a "compelling" number: Capital Brief

💵 Mallesons has notched up another convertible for return client NEXTDC, advising on its $1.1bn subordinated notes to fund its AI-fuelled data centre pipeline. No Aussie firm has advised more issuers of publicly marketed convertibles: Point Blank

🎬 Paramount Skydance has settled lawsuits brought by 12 state attorneys-general and the Writers Guild, clearing the last roadblock to closing its US$110bn buy of Warner Bros. Discovery: Bloomberg