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👋 G’day

Today’s brief:

  • Domain Group's data chief joins Minters

  • Harvey builds out its own legal AI models

  • Ashurst denies investigating whistleblower

Here’s your latest, PB #{{join_number}} 👇

WORD ON THE STREET

Minters’ AI hire

MinterEllison has poached Pooyan Asgari, Domain Group's longtime Chief Data Officer, as its first-ever Chief AI Officer. The firm has opted against the usual playbook of promoting or hiring someone with a legal background. Asgari is a complete outsider, never working a day in law. His pitch is treating AI as an "exoskeleton", wrapping around the proprietary knowledge of the firm. Oh, and he's adamant AI "absolutely" won't cost jobs: Point Blank

  • Ashurst isn't taking the fall for KPMG's mess. Partner Jane Harvey told a Senate inquiry the firm "was not engaged" to investigate whistleblower claims and "did not conduct" one, despite KPMG telling parliament, directors and the public otherwise: AFR

  • Harvey's done borrowing other models. It's building its own legal foundation models, designed to act "much like a senior associate", and open-sourcing the lot. Convenient timing — with Anthropic's Claude for Legal live and OpenAI looking to build its own legal vertical soon, Harvey needs to do more to stay on top: Point Blank

PRACTICE POINTS

Forced to resign

⚖️ Employment: The Fair Work Commission has found an employee was forced to resign after her employer failed to properly act on substantiated sexual harassment findings. In Snow vs WA Mirning People Aboriginal Corporation, a director found to have sexually harassed the applicant copped only a final warning and stayed on the Board, retaining authority over her. The Commission held it was unreasonable to expect her to keep working under those conditions, calling the Board’s inaction “disgraceful”. Limiting physical contact wasn’t enough. Meaningful action was required: Burn Legal

⚖️ Corporate: North Limited, a Rio Tinto subsidiary holding 98.43% of Energy Resources of Australia, sought to mop up the remaining 1.57% at 0.2 cents a share. North’s independent experts found ERA’s Ranger mine rehabilitation costs so significant that fair value actually sat in negative territory, below the proposed price. Objector Zentree rallied enough shareholders to force the matter before Justice Markovic, throwing in everything from invalid notice arguments to oppression and directors’ duties style claims about North’s and ERA’s conduct. Her Honour wasn’t persuaded, emphasising the Court’s limited role in compulsory acquisitions and confirming the price reflected fair value: HSF Kramer

⚖️ Insurance: The Full Federal Court has knocked back ASIC’s appeal in ASIC v HCF Life, leaving intact the finding that a ‘pre-existing condition’ term misled the public, yet was not an unfair contract term. ASIC had hoped to clarify how the unfair contract terms regime sits alongside other statutory protections in insurance contracts. HCF Life copped a $750k penalty back in May 2025 for the misleading term. ASIC says it’s considering the decision: ASIC

TOGETHER WITH CLAYTON UTZ

It's that time of year again, with firms in every corner of the country recruiting their next class of seasonal clerks. For the next seven weeks until the final applications roll in, Clayton Utz will share a weekly update on which cities are open for applications and the dates you need to know – regardless of which firm you're applying to.

As a Top 5 Graduate Employer in Law, Clayton Utz is one of the best places to start your legal career. Find out more about their seasonal clerkships and send this link to a law student applying this year.

TALKING POINTS

Teals unite

Did you hear…

Zali Steggall is quietly building a proper party for the teals, logo and all, with "community" baked into the name. The push is partly about countering One Nation's rise, partly about getting ahead of Labor's new donation laws, which cap individual donors at $50k per candidate, per year, from Jan 2027: AFR

Also…

Keir Starmer looks set to bow out, with allies expecting a resignation timetable any day now, possibly as soon as Monday. Andy Burnham won his way back into Parliament and immediately started circling for the top job. Labour MPs reckon Burnham's their best shot against Nigel Farage's Reform UK: Bloomberg

DEAL ROOM

PE payday

🥥 Danone is gulping down TPG Capital's Made Group, the outfit behind Cocobella and Rokeby, in a near $2bn payday for the PE firm. It is one of the biggest all-cash PE exits in years, netting TPG 5 to 6x its initial investment: AFR

🏥 Bupa is snapping up Partnered Health Group, scooping up 68 primary care clinics and three urgent care centres to bulk up its Australian health network. Ashurst acted for Bupa: Capital Brief, Ashurst

SECTOR SNAPSHOT

White faces AFP

DIGGERS

🚜 Regis’ McPhillamys is back from the dead. The miner has revived its stalled the NSW gold project, reinstating a 1.89m ounce reserve via a new pre-feasibility study. The plan leans on filtered tailings co-disposal to dodge the project's earlier environmental knockback, eyeing $7.1bn in revenue at US$4,000/oz gold: Australian Mining

FIN

🏦 Australia's high net worth pool has swelled to $1.65tn, sparking a banker brawl. Macquarie's private bank has lost a wave of long‑serving staff, including Gold Coast team leads, to rivals like Shaw and Partners, with unrest tied to platform cuts and a pay model some advisers reckon shortchanges them: AFR

RETAIL + REAL ESTATE

🏠 Goodman Group has struck a $2.65bn deal with Soul Pattinson to scoop up Brickworks' stake in a string of Sydney warehouse developments, marking the year's biggest Australian property deal. Meanwhile, Airbnb is fighting back against the City of Sydney's push to slash the 180-day short-term rental cap, calling it an "economic lifeline" for cash-strapped owners: The Australian, AFR

TECH + STARTUPS

📱 Richard White, billionaire boss of WiseTech, is now under formal AFP investigation after former Kyckr CEO Kathy Phelan alleged he used a fake job and forged letterhead to land ex‑cleaner Caroline Heidemann a visa, all while allegedly coercing her into a sexual relationship. Forced labour and visa fraud carry up to 12 years' jail: AFR

P.S.

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