The Epstein files have hit law. Paul Weiss chair Brad Karp has abruptly resigned as chair after emails showing social ties with Jeffrey Epstein were released by the US Department of Justice. The correspondence, which included praise for Epstein and requests for personal favours, sparked internal anger and reputational fallout at the Wall Street firm. Yikes… Legal Cheek

⚖️ Disputes: Ashurst has broken down the 2026 trends shaping Aussie disputes. The upshot is that disputes are simultaneously being shaped by courts, code and regulators. The High Court has confirmed the availability of soft class closure orders and common fund orders (but shut the door on solicitor contingency fees). This tightens settlement leverage and class action funding economics. Meanwhile, cyber incidents and the new privacy tort are fuelling consumer and employment claims. Gen AI is also emerging as both a dispute accelerant and evidentiary risk, raising issues around hallucinations, deepfakes, IP ownership and governance failures. ASIC and AUSTRAC are also ramping up scams, greenwashing and digital asset enforcement: Ashurst

⚖️ Insolvency: The Federal Court of Australia has reaffirmed the flexibility of DOCAs, confirming they can be used to transfer not just shares, but also options, warrants and other equity-like instruments. The ruling came out of the Toys “R” Us ANZ restructure. Administrators needed clean control for a buyer, including wiping out 19 sets of equity rights. The Court accepted that clean control was a legitimate commercial objective and that extending s 444GA beyond “shares” was permissible where it achieved the same end and caused no unfair prejudice. The Court carefully tested value, relying on independent evidence showing the equity rights had nil residual value. For restructuring teams, this is a green light to use DOCAs as a true control tool: Gadens

⚖️ Employment: The Federal Court has imposed modest penalties after finding Energy Action misclassified an IT specialist as a contractor for 14 years. Energy Action underpaid NES entitlements, but it fell at the lower end of seriousness. The Court accepted the business genuinely treated the worker as a contractor and wasn’t reckless or indifferent. While the employer failed in its argument that the breaches were a single course of conduct, the Court rejected a push for near-maximum penalties, landing on $29,925 across three contraventions. For employers, uncertainty about status isn’t a shield, but good faith and conduct still materially shape penalty exposure: Mills Oakley

AI panic rattles markets, but UBS says don’t blink. After a brutal tech sell-off sparked by Anthropic’s new automation tools, UBS asset allocation co-head Mark Andersen says the disruption is real, which is exactly why investors should lean in. He calls AI a once-in-a-century invention, closer to electricity than the dotcom bubble, with $1tn+ in capex still to come and the real winners yet to emerge: The Australian

A Tasmanian crypto entrepreneur has won High Court leave to appeal a $50k damages ruling, setting up a showdown on whether Bitcoin is property capable of possession. Michael Pelly writes on how lower courts treated it as detinue and conversion, while others say crypto is an intangible chose in action. The outcome could reshape remedies, trusts and recovery across Australian crypto disputes: Capital Brief

⚒️ Rio Tinto has walked away from merger talks with Glencore, killing a mooted ~$300bn mega-deal after failing to agree on price and control. Rio baulked at governance demands and the premium implied, despite Glencore’s prized copper growth pipeline. Glencore shares slid, while Rio says the deal wouldn’t deliver shareholder value: AFR

☘️ KKR is backing HMC Capital’s energy transition platform with up to $603m, striking a strategic partnership that brings in one of the world’s biggest climate investors. The deal injects $355m upfront plus $248m for growth, pares HMC’s exposure to ~$200m, and helps refinance debt while funding batteries and wind projects: Capital Brief