Sparke and Morays outgrow top-tiers

Reddit files its High Court challenge on ban

Ashurst’s analysis shows insolvencies booming

When it comes to partner growth, Sparke Helmore and Moray & Agnew topped the AFR’s charts, surging 18.6% and 11.6%. Most top-tiers held steady or shrank, with Ashurst sliding 7.3%. A soft deals market is weighing on expansion, while counter-cyclical disputes work keeps the mid-tiers powering ahead: Point Blank

As Renae Lattey touts a newly independent Mallesons as Australia’s “only top-tier” local firm, alumni aren’t convinced. Despite KWM’s claims that its China arm was separate, some clients steered some capital markets and M&A work to G+T and Corrs. Critics say the firm must now relearn a fiercely competitive local market: AFR

Piper Alderman has wrapped the year with 10 promotions, headlined by new partners Alicia Chryssochoides in Syd and Kylie Maxwell in Brissie. The uplift spans SC, SA and 6 associates as the firm leans into a growth push that’s already seen a string of lateral partner hires across 2025: Piper Alderman

Insolvency: New analysis by Ashurst shows that insolvencies kept climbing in 2025, with more than 13,400 companies entering external administration by May. That’s up 34% year-on-year, driven by sticky core inflation, cost pressures and regulatory uncertainty. Construction and hospitality remain the hardest hit. The uplift in distress has translated into active dealflow — lenders backing restructures, sponsors driving distressed M&A, and governments intervening in critical assets. Major moments included Healthscope’s receivership, StrongRoom AI’s collapse and sale and recapitalisations at Toys R Us and Pacific Hunter. Governments also took unprecedented steps, from Canberra buying Rex’s debt to SA legislating control of Whyalla Steelworks: Ashurst

Copyright: Australia has ruled out a text and data mining exception, meaning AI developers generally can’t train models on Australian copyright material without permission. But, as we covered previously, the UK’s Getty Images v Stability AI decision shows how hard that is to police. Getty argued its images were copied in training. But copyright is territorial — it needed to show those acts occurred in the UK, which it ultimately failed to do. The court also held that the trained model itself did not store or reproduce the training images, so it was not an infringing copy. The takeaway for Australia: rights holders have strong legal footing in theory, but cross-border enforcement is messy, models rarely “contain” works, and disputes will turn on jurisdiction: Allens

Regulatory/Reporting: ASIC has slapped 12 large proprietary companies with more than $2.2 million in infringement notices after a three-month surveillance blitz found they failed to lodge FY24 financial reports on time. Big names include Aje, Frank Green and Grill’d, who were each hit with penalties of at least $187k (with MJ Bale paying $198k after the penalty unit increase). All have paid, but ASIC’s investigations remain open for any company still missing reports. The regulator reviewed 217 companies and alleges 70% were non-compliant, prompting 103 to lodge after intervention and 41 more now in progress. ASIC says directors must proactively meet reporting obligations, warns further enforcement is coming in 2026: ASIC

Reddit has launched a High Court challenge to Australia’s new under-16 social media ban, arguing it breaches the Constitution’s implied freedom of political communication. The platform says blocking teens from posting “directly burdens” their political speech, especially as many will soon be voters. Perry Herzfeld SC and Thomson Geer are running the case, setting up a major test of the government’s world-first law: AFR

Australia shed 21.3k jobs in November, marking the weakest jobs growth since 2016 (excluding the pandemic) and nudging markets to push back bets on an RBA hike to late 2026. The jobless rate held at 4.3%, but falling participation and a drop in full-time roles have economists warning the market is “on a knife’s edge”: Bloomberg

Dexus: has kicked off its new DSIT fund series with a $683m buy-in to Westfield Chermside, taking its platform stake in the centre to 50%. DSIT1 launches with Dexus tipping in $170m for a 49% slice, alongside third-party capital. Scentre keeps 50% and will park $50m in the fund temporarily: Capital Brief

Sembcorp: has agreed to buy Alinta Energy for $6.5bn, picking up Australia’s fourth-largest utility in one sweep. The Singaporean-listed bidder is taking the whole shop, from the carbon-heavy Loy Yang B coal plant to Alinta’s retail arm and renewables portfolio, marking a major strategic push into Australia’s energy market: AFR

BHP boss Mike Henry says Australia’s energy market should be a reform priority, warning that local power prices are more than double Canada, China and Indonesia and over 50 per cent higher than the US. He’s urging technology-agnostic policy, more domestic gas supply and faster grid upgrades: The Australian

Woodside has tapped former Equinor senior LNG trader Delia Lenander to lead its global LNG trading push, as the company ramps up for a wave of new supply. With its Louisiana export project due online later this decade, Woodside is building out a global trading bench to sharpen margins and compete harder in the gas market: Bloomberg

AMP has agreed to a $29m class action settlement over historical commissions and insurance advice, covering conduct from 2014 to 2021. No liability admitted, and the deal still needs Federal Court sign-off: Capital Brief

The government is gearing up to tighten the screws on super switching and high-pressure sales, floating a cooling-off period, tougher anti-hawking rules and limits on “inappropriate” advice fees. It follows the Shield and First Guardian collapses, which left $1bn in savings exposed: Investment Magazine

BlueScope has scored NSW approval to rezone a $10bn industrial precinct the size of Sydney’s CBD. The steelmaker will keep the land while opening it to advanced manufacturing, renewables, tech and logistics over the coming decades. With 20,000 jobs forecast and big education partners lined up, it’s a major push to monetise idle assets as profits slump: AFR

Myer has booked a strong start to FY26, with sales up 3% to $1.52bn. Record Black Friday trading drove a 3.4% lift in Myer Retail, powered by homewares and womenswear. The retailer will add 20 more brands (including Topshop), expand its online marketplace and upgrade its Pitt Street beauty hall: AFR

Disney is investing US$1bn in OpenAI and licensing 200-plus Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars characters to Sora in a three-year deal. The deal will let fans gen AI-made videos and images from 2026, with some user-created clips even streaming on Disney+. It marks one of Hollywood’s biggest swings yet at generative AI: Capital Brief

OpenAI has dropped GPT-5.2, a faster, sharper model built to boost reasoning and coding performance just weeks after Google’s Gemini 3 stole the spotlight. The upgrade lands as Sam Altman pushes to claw back ground in a frantic AI arms race: Bloomberg