👋 G’day
Today’s brief:
UK trainee hiring stays stable
Would taking leave tank a career?
G+T CEO's advice for junior lawyers
Here’s your latest, PB #{{join_number}} 👇
WORD ON THE STREET
UK hiring holds
How's the UK handling trainee hiring? Turns out AI hasn't dented intake much: trainee places across 109 firms dipped just 1.7% (2,593 to 2,549). Linklaters shed 40 spots (100 to 60) as it leans into solicitor apprenticeships instead, with Pinsent Masons and Freshfields also trimming. Meanwhile Gibson Dunn, Milbank and Simpson Thacher are all expanding London intakes: Legal Cheek
A Reddit post is doing the rounds: a third year at a US big law firm on track for 3,000+ hours, working 6am to 2am, sole associate on several deals with no one reviewing their work. They took leave in Europe and still pulled 15-hour days. They asked whether taking mental health leave would tank their career: Reddit
G+T CEO Sam Nickless is giving his advice to junior lawyers, and it boils down to this: you've got more control over your time than you think, if you're brave enough to negotiate it. His other pearler: corporate life isn't fair, so stop comparing yourself to colleagues: AFR
NSW's top judge isn't buying the AI hype. Chief Justice Andrew Bell says legal aid work needs "emotional, not artificial intelligence." He's not keen on "human in the loop" line either, arguing it demotes people to bit players: Lawyerly
PRACTICE POINTS
REA relents
⚖️ Competition: REA Group has given a court-enforceable undertaking to the ACCC, agreeing to strip anti-competitive restrictions from its contracts with real estate agencies. Most realestate.com.au contracts previously forced agents to list every property on the platform, or incentivised them to pay for premium features across their whole portfolio. The ACCC considered this locked out rival listing services and limited vendor choice. REA has acknowledged its conduct may have breached competition law and must hold the changes for three years. Chair Gina Cass‑Gottlieb called it a win that should hand agents, and their clients, real flexibility on where to list: ACCC
⚖️ Corporate: ASIC wants your thoughts on who gets to see what on the companies register. Under Consultation Paper 391, more basic details would become free for any registry user to check — officeholders' names, their status, and director ID info. But sensitive stuff like residential addresses and birth details would only go to verified business users with a genuine need. From 1 July 2027, birth year, locality and service addresses become publicly available. The full system isn't expected to land until 1 August 2028, giving companies breathing room to switch officeholders over to service addresses. Submissions close 12 October 2026: ASIC
⚖️ Energy: The Commonwealth Government has released exposure draft legislation for the Domestic Gas Reservation Scheme, a package of three Bills open for consultation until 24 September 2026. LNG exporters will need an export licence from 1 January 2028, alongside a Domestic Supply Obligation requiring 20% of exports go to the local market. Existing pre-December 2025 contracts aren't automatically exempt. Exporters must satisfy a three-limb test to get relief. Penalties are steep — up to 10% of annual turnover, capped at 2.5 million penalty units: Clayton Utz
TALKING POINTS
Screentime slashed
Did you hear…
NSW public schools are capping screentime from Term 1, 2027. Kindy to Year 2 kids get fifteen minutes a day, ramping up so Year 11s and 12s can use devices for half their class time. Mark Speakman wants to know how schools actually pull this off, especially for online exams: TDA
Also…
AI's biggest bill might just be its power bill. BloombergNEF says US data centres will burn more natural gas within a decade than almost any country on earth, more than double its last forecast. Gas will supply 69% of new data centre power: Bloomberg
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DEAL ROOM
IPO countdown
🚀 Gilmour Space is chasing a fresh US$200m to US$500m raise, the last stop before a planned 2028 US IPO on the Nasdaq or NYSE. Riding the wave from SpaceX's blockbuster listing, the Queensland rocket maker wants global institutions on its cap table: Capital Brief
💰 Meanwhile, Firmus Technologies is chasing a $7bn raise on its IPO roadshow, no founder or backer selldowns allowed — an unusual structure locally. A $7bn raise would make it Australia's second-biggest IPO ever, behind Telstra: AFR
🚗 Three-way scrap for FleetPartners just got spicier, with SG Fleet, Orix and a Sumitomo-led consortium all sweetening their offers post due diligence. Orix and Sumitomo now sit level at $4.65 a share, SG Fleet close behind at $4.55: Capital Brief
SECTOR SNAPSHOT
Age check
DIGGERS
🚜 China's cranking up pressure on Aussie miners to get paid in yuan, not USD, with ICBC reporting a 70% surge in cross-border yuan settlement for bulk commodities. BHP, Rio and Fortescue aren't budging much yet (still under 1% of exports invoiced in yuan), but Fortescue's $3bn yuan loan shows the door's not shut: AFR
FIN
🏦 NAB, ANZ and Macquarie all shed staff last week, with ANZ wrapping up 3,500 redundancies and NAB simplifying leadership as new execs settle in. Recruiters say banks are chasing compliance, revenue and AI talent, leaving traditional processing roles increasingly out in the cold: Capital Brief
RETAIL + REAL ESTATE
🏠 GPT has bought Brisbane's Central Plaza II tower for $380m, teaming up with US firm TPG Angelo Gordon to fund the deal. It's part of GPT's push into funds management, adding to its office holdings in Brisbane's Golden Triangle as the city's leasing market outperforms Sydney and Melbourne: The Australian
TECH + STARTUPS
📱 Apple now wants Aussies to prove they're 18-plus before downloading adult-rated apps or switching off safety filters, verifying age via ID scan or credit card. It builds on earlier parental control updates and follows Australia's under-16 social media ban, which Tim Cook says directly inspired the changes: The Australian
P.S.
