Barristers, time to play nice. Federal Court Justice Nicholas Owens has told barristers to drop the "aggressive and confrontational" cross-examination act, warning that intimidating witnesses into muddled admissions won't impress the bench. He said judges and juries instinctively side with witnesses, not counsel on the attack: Lawyers Weekly

⚖️ Climate reporting: The Federal Court's decision in ACCR v Santos landed before mandatory climate reporting kicked in, but it's still a roadmap for entities navigating AASB S2 and ASIC's RG 280. Markovic J found that Santos had reasonable grounds for its net zero targets and transition roadmap, accepting that preliminary research and inherent uncertainties around hydrogen markets and regulatory change were sufficient. The court attributed a reasonably high level of sophistication to the target audience of investors and advisers. While the facts of the case predates the mandatory climate reporting obligation, robust governance, expert input and good record keeping must sit behind climate disclosure to defend greenwashing allegations: Allens

⚖️ Misleading conduct: The Federal Court hit Webjet with $9m in penalties after the ACCC proved the online travel agency misled consumers on two fronts: (1) advertising flight prices that excluded unavoidable booking and servicing fees, and (2) sending booking confirmations before airlines had actually confirmed the tickets. The pricing conduct ran from 2018 to 2024 and spanned its website, app, emails and social media. Webjet copped $8.5m for the price representations alone. The Court stressed that asterisks don't cure misleading pricing if the linked text doesn't clearly disclose the extra charges, and that tech glitches causing misleading confirmations for five years were no excuse for a business of Webjet's size: HWLE

⚖️ Evidence/Foreign proceedings: Gathering evidence in Australia for use in foreign court proceedings? Well, the formal route relies on a Letter of Request issued by the foreign court, channelled through the Hague Evidence Convention and given effect by orders of the relevant Supreme Court (see Evidence on Commission Act 1995 for NSW). Alternatively, where an Australian witness is willing to cooperate, evidence can be taken voluntarily without court process, provided the collection complies with local requirements. Either way, overseas litigants need to get the details right. For instance, documents must be identified specifically (not by category), and any special examination formats should be flagged in the request upfront: Clayton Utz

Kogan.com’s CEO, Ruslan Kogan, reckons the secret to getting promoted is to ask, don’t wait. He says at Kogan.com, anyone can request a raise anytime, but you've got to bring receipts. Quantify your value, lay out what you've delivered, and make the maths obvious for management. If your contribution exceeds your remuneration, the conversation's easy. Some staff have gone from the call centre to senior management in a few years, even tripling their salary along the way: AFR

Trump wants allies to help clear the Strait of Hormuz. So far, the Europeans say it’s not our war. Brent crude has punched through US$106 as the conflict enters its third week, with the IEA calling it the largest oil market disruption in history. Australia has two ageing refineries that cover less than a quarter of its domestic demand and hold roughly a month's worth of diesel in reserve. While the ACCC is hauling BP, Ampol, Chevron, ExxonMobil and 7-Eleven before an emergency meeting today, demanding they justify pump prices: The Australian, Business Insider, Bloomberg

💰 With market conditions crumbling, Pepper Money's takeover saga just got cheaper. Challenger has cut its non-binding bid from $2.60 to $2.25 a share, blaming weaker markets and a tougher operating environment. It's calling this best and final: Capital Brief

💲 Perpetual has agreed to sell its wealth management arm to Bain Capital for $500m, plus a potential performance kicker and up to $50m in earnouts. The unit manages $21.9bn in funds under advice. It's Perpetual's second crack at offloading the business after a KKR deal collapsed over a tax bill. Barrenjoey is advising: Bloomberg