AFR reveals Australia’s top lawyers

Tech warns Vic’s right-to-WFH risks jobs

Draft laws hit crypto exchanges with fines

The AFR Magazine Power List has dropped, and this year’s top legal powerbrokers are: Michelle Rowland, new AG and ex-G+T partner; Debra Mortimer, reshaping the Fed Court; Gavin MacLaren, the all-powerful Corrs boss; David Hammerschlag, NSW’s Chief Judge in Equity; and Georgia Dawson, the Sydney-born CEO steering Freshfields in London: AFR

NSW will follow the NT and Fed Circuit Court in rebranding Local Court magistrates as judges, with AG Michael Daley saying the change recognises the court’s heavy caseload. About 90% of all judicial decisions in NSW. The state also named two new District Court judges: Robert Hollo SC and Peter Krisenthal, both seasoned barristers with decades of service: Australasian Lawyer

Ex-NSW Supreme Court judge Richard Button is running “court reporting masterclasses” for uni students, teaching basics like contempt, suppression orders, and turning phones off. Backed by Chief Justice Andrew Bell, the sessions follow his blast at poor media coverage of the Clare Nowland taser case. Button’s rule for reporters: respect the process, or risk the bench’s wrath: Capital Brief

The Albanese government has released draft laws forcing crypto exchanges and custody platforms into the financial services licensing regime, exposing breaches to penalties of up to $16.5m, 10% of turnover or 3x the benefit gained. The rules extend ASIC’s custody standards to settlement and trading, with carve-outs for small operators, and give ministers powers to ban risky products. Industry players welcomed the clarity, but warned that enforcement will be key to stopping unregulated competitors undercutting licensed firms. Get your views in - submissions close 24 October.

Crown class action wraps with $72.5m settlement. The Victorian Supreme Court has approved Crown Resorts’ shareholder class action settlement, plus a $19.9m contingency fee for Maurice Blackburn. Justice Nichols said the 27.75% group costs order was “comfortably” within range and reflected the firm’s risk in funding and prosecuting the case. The action alleged Crown misled investors over AML compliance, sparking an 8% share price drop in October 2020: Lawyerly*

WA overhauls evidence law. WA Parliament has passed the Evidence Bill 2025, repealing the century-old Evidence Act 1906 and aligning the State with the Uniform Evidence Law used in most other jurisdictions. Key reforms include witness assistance measures, protections for family violence victims, and provisions from the Child Sexual Abuse Royal Commission. Consequential amendments touch more than 60 Acts, with staged commencement to allow training and implementation.

The Victorian government wants to legislate a right to work from home two days a week, but tech leaders warn it’ll cost thousands of jobs and stunt the sector. Zeller CEO Ben Pfisterer says blunt rules ignore how startups rely on in-person collaboration, with most already offering flexible return-to-work policies. He argues the policy risks driving tech firms out of Victoria: The Australian

Only 27% of ASX 200 companies have disclosed AI activity, versus 90% of the Fortune 500. Adoption is skewed to the ASX 50, where banks and miners can afford “sovereign” in-house AI builds costing $1m+. That leaves mid-tiers struggling, while giants like CBA and BHP show off multimillion-dollar gains, widening the gap between the haves and have-nots: Capital Brief

A new Harvard, Duke and OpenAI study shows 73% of ChatGPT prompts are personal, from “my wife is mad at me” to “does ice reduce pimples?”. Work queries make up just 27%, mostly drafting, research and data crunching. Use is booming among women, under-26s and in low-income countries: AFR

Gold Fields: has cashed out of Northern Star, offloading its $1.1b stake via a JPMorgan block trade at $22.05 per share, a 2.7% discount to last close. The selldown follows Gold Fields’ $3.8b takeover of Gold Road, which carried the Northern Star stake: AFR

Real Asset Management: has closed its debut listed note at $300m, the top of its range, with Ord Minnett, Taylor Collison and Westpac running the book. Proceeds will fund mortgages via RAM’s non-bank lender Brighten, with the notes to list on Oct 15. Another sign fundies are shifting into notes as hybrids phase out: AFR

Southern Cross Media: could be back on Nine Entertainment’s radar after Peter Tonagh’s appointment as chair. With a $200m market cap and the top podcast sales network, SCA would fit neatly into Nine’s stable. Sports Entertainment Group is tipped as a buyer, while activists like Sandon Capital are betting Tonagh may greenlight a deal: The Australian

Liontown posted a $193m loss, triple last year’s, but says its $266m raise plus $50m taxpayer backing leaves it cushioned for lithium’s slump. Production at Kathleen Valley is underway with Tesla, Ford and LG locked in as buyers: AFR

Woodside’s North West Shelf faces tougher emissions rules that analysts say will kill off its oldest LNG trains and sink hopes of developing the Browse gas field. The project must cut emissions 60% by 2030, leaving only its newer trains viable. With Browse already a 50-year headache, the new conditions could be the final straw: The Australian

Future Fund voted against 40+ pay reports last year, targeting boards at ASX, MinRes and Star over pay-performance gaps and poor disclosure. Chair Greg Combet says strikes are piling up under the “two-strikes” law, keeping directors on edge as AGM season looms: AFR

Westpac has poached BofA’s Pete Nicholls to beef up its in-house M&A and strategy team. A 12-year Wall Street veteran, Nicholls will report to CFO Nathan Goonan as CEO Anthony Miller continues his top-team reshuffle: AFR

Dexus has sold its Rydalmere Metro Centre for $152.1m, stepping up asset sales from its $12.9bn wholesale property fund to meet redemptions. Snapped up by Wentworth’s $350m opportunistic fund, the deal highlights the hot demand for Sydney industrial assets, which are shifting far quicker than Dexus’ office-heavy portfolio: The Australian

Sydney’s Macquarie Links International Golf Club is on the market, giving investors a shot at an 18-hole championship course on 60ha of land. Privately owned and not tied to members, the site doubles as a going concern business and a potential rezoning play, making it a rare swing for both golf lovers and developers: Real Commercial

Amazon will fork out A$3.8bn to settle FTC claims it duped Prime users into subscriptions. About 35 million customers can claim on the pool, while Amazon pays $1bn in fines. The deal forces clearer sign-up and cancel buttons, plus third-party oversight. Amazon didn’t admit wrongdoing, but its shares slipped: AFR

Aussies Dan and Will Roberts’ Iren has rocketed $660m to their paper wealth in six months after pivoting from bitcoin mining to AI “factories” packed with Nvidia chips. Now worth $17.3bn, Iren’s revenue is tipped to hit $500m a year. From near-collapse in 2022 to AI darlings, the ex-Macquarie duo are cashing in big: AFR