Young lawyers to exit without reform

Top firms split between Legora, Harvey

Mushroom murder challenges guilty verdict

A LawCare survey of 1,500 lawyers found those aged 26–35 face the worst burnout and lowest wellbeing. Nearly 60% reported poor mental health, half said they often felt anxious, and 8 in 10 work beyond their contracts. With some clocking 12+ hour days, LawCare is urging urgent reform before more lawyers walk away: Legal Cheek

Allens and Minters are doubling down on Legora, with Allens’ alliance partner Linklaters also rolling Legora out across 30 offices. Minters has followed, adding Legora to its Copilot and Lantern toolkit. With KWM, ABL and G+T all backing rival Harvey, the top tiers are splitting into AI camps as the AI race heats up: Point Blank

Plus, Legora is set to raise $100–$150m at a $1.8bn valuation, led by Bessemer Venture Partners. Founded in 2023 by Max Junestrand, Legora’s ARR has jumped from $4m to $23m, with $40m expected this year. It already counts 300 law firm clients. Rivals are also cashed up with Harvey at $5bn and Eve at $1bn: Forbes

Grant Thornton Australia has tapped Greenhill to review offers from private equity suitors circling the $384m-revenue firm. PE has been snapping up accounting shops globally, with New Mountain Capital and Cinven already carving up Grant Thornton’s international arms. The Aussie arm says it could still stay independent, but a sale would be one of the sector’s biggest: AFR

The Federal Court has disqualified two directors of Open4Sale Global after finding they breached s 727 of the Corporations Act more than 100 times by offering securities without compliant disclosure. The Court flagged serious governance failures — offers made with no disclosure document and no audited financials on record, meaning the company couldn’t use an information statement under the Act. The directors copped 12 and 8-year bans plus $2.8m in personal penalties, with the Court refusing to grant them relief. No fines were imposed on the company itself, the judge ruling removal of the individuals was deterrent enough: Hall & Wilcox

AFIA has launched a new Finance Industry Code of Practice, the first for non-bank lenders and specialist banks. The Code sets industry-wide standards on integrity, transparency and fairness, with a focus on consumer and SME protection. It covers clearer disclosure of terms and fees, scam and cyber safeguards, responsible use of tech and AI, and stronger hardship support. AFIA CEO Diane Tate called it a “huge milestone”, with members pledging to lift standards and strengthen trust. For lawyers advising lenders, the Code creates a new baseline for conduct, disclosure and complaint handling and will shape how disputes and compliance risks are assessed across the sector: AFIA

The NSW Court of Appeal has ruled repayments of $250k loans to shadow directors weren’t “unreasonable director-related transactions” under s 588FDA of the Corps Act. In Changela v Dracoma, the company repaid informal loans shortly before it stopped trading. The Court found the loans were repayable on demand, the payments caused no commercial detriment, and simply discharged existing obligations. The decision overturned the trial judge’s orders, clarifying that repayment of genuine debts to directors (or shadow directors) won’t be clawed back if made while solvent and without prejudice to other creditors.

Erin Patterson, jailed for life with a 33-year non-parole period over the fatal beef Wellington mushroom lunch, has lodged an appeal against her guilty verdict. Patterson has brought in a new legal team, including a barrister from the Bali Nine cases. Her appeal grounds remain undisclosed: TDA

The ATO’s corporate tax list is out. Netflix paid zero on $1.2bn Aussie revenue, amid claims that it funnels money offshore to dodge local tax. Optus paid zero on $8.2bn. Big Four banks paid $10bn. Miners carried the load, handing in over $48.5bn – more than all other sectors combined for the third year running. Rio Tinto paid $6.3bn, BHP $6bn and Fortescue $4bn: AFR

Kamala Harris will headline the Women Unlimited Leadership Summit in February, alongside Julie Bishop, after organisers cited “unprecedented demand.” The former US VP is fuelling comeback chatter, refusing to rule out another presidential run while promoting her new book: The Australian

Bloomberg Law: has named Latham & Watkins the leading M&A adviser in a market boosted by record large deals, steering US$499bn in transactions to Q3. Wachtell (US$452bn) and Kirkland (US$432bn) trailed close behind, with Skadden and Sidley rounding out the top five: Morningstar

Blackstone: is in due diligence to buy the Oatley family’s Hamilton Island, one of Australia’s most iconic tourism assets. The island hit the market in 2023 at a $1bn price tag but failed to land a buyer. The Oatleys, who bought it for $200m in 2003, built luxury resort Qualia and the yacht club: The Australian

Dexus: is back eyeing Campus Living Villages, which Goldman has up for sale at about $2bn. Dexus, already the largest on-campus student housing manager with 7,000 Aussie beds, first looked last year. Campus runs 27,100 beds across 46 villages worldwide, but past sales fizzled when bids fell short: The Australian

Rio Tinto’s new boss Simon Trott has called in IBs to pitch on options for its mineral sands business, now tagged as non-core. The unit has posted two years of negative cash flow, with earnings halving to $216m in 2024. A sale would streamline Rio into iron ore, aluminium, lithium and copper: AFR

Glencore and Twiggy’s Wyloo are circling BHP’s mothballed Nickel West and West Musgrave operations. The mines carry $1.5bn in liabilities but valuable water rights and infrastructure. Opposition resources spokeswoman Susan McDonald says new owners must prove they’re reliable long-term investors. Other names tipped include IGO and Liontown: AFR

Fintech unicorn Zeller is kicking off its first international expansion, setting up shop in London. The Aussie payments player will build a 40-strong team as it targets the UK’s 5.5 million small businesses, which process £1.3tn in payments annually: Capital Brief

The RBA has been dragged into ANZ law suit. Ex-ANZ trader says the bank’s trading floor antics were so wild they triggered a rare RBA funding inquiry back in 2011. ANZ insists he was fired over lewd messages, but Alexiou claims it was retaliation for blowing the whistle on BBSW rigging. The Federal Court showdown has seen him grilled over what traders meant by “slaughtering the rate set.” The Australian

From Nov 1, telcos must give real-time updates to government and emergency services when Triple Zero fails, plus six-hourly reports during the first day of an outage. The crackdown follows Optus’ September blackout, linked to three deaths. Optus had argued real-time reporting would be a “huge burden” on staff: AFR

APAC real estate private credit hit US$11.2bn between 2020–24, up 40%, with Australia grabbing 40% of the pool, per Knight Frank. Private credit now makes up US$50bn, or 16% of commercial real estate lending, as banks retreat. The sector’s tipped to add US$90–110bn by 2028, with Australia expected to drive nearly half the growth: COMO

Sam Altman’s OpenAI has hit a US$500bn valuation, leapfrogging Elon Musk’s SpaceX (US$400bn) to become the planet’s most valuable private company. A US$6.6bn secondary share sale to investors sealed the milestone. The move gives staff liquidity and fuels OpenAI’s AI data-centre expansion: Bloomberg

Meta will start mining AI chatbot interactions to personalise content and ads across Facebook and Instagram. From 16 Dec, users won’t get an opt-out, meaning chats with Meta AI or headset voice tools could shape ad feeds. The rollout skips the UK, EU and South Korea, but still hits Meta’s 1bn AI users worldwide: Capital Brief