Kirkland & Ellis is spending US$500m building its own proprietary AI platform — and no, you can't have it. The world's highest-grossing firm is designing bespoke tech with 250 of its own lawyers, with partners taking a short-term hit to their distributions. Outside vendors build but don't own a thing, and the firm will "own, or have the right to own, all of it": Point Blank

⚖️ Employment: The Fair Work Commission is drowning in work, with its caseload up over 70% in three years, partly driven by AI-generated applications. President Justice Hatcher has published a draft guidance note proposing that parties using GenAI must disclose its use, verify all factual statements and citations, and ensure witness statements reflect the deponent's own knowledge. In Hoverd v M & JD Pty Ltd, Deputy President Lake dismissed an unfair dismissal claim. Lake found it was a resignation, and invited the employer to make a costs application against the applicant after he claimed AI-assisted materials were based on his own knowledge when they clearly weren't: Kingston Reid

⚖️ M&A: Contingent value rights (CVRs) give target shareholders the right to receive additional consideration if specified future milestones are met, such as regulatory approvals, clinical trial outcomes or financial targets. They're gaining traction as a valuation gap tool, with 27 US public M&A transactions featuring a CVR in 2025, up from just 7 the prior year, and contingent payments appearing in 26% of Australian private deals. Australian public M&A has been slower to adopt them, but recent schemes involving Little Green Pharma/Cannatrek and Blue Ocean Monitoring/Helsing Australia show courts won't balk at approving CVR structures where disclosure is adequate: HSF Kramer

⚖️ Resources: In Re Sungela Pty Ltd, the Queensland Land Court recommended against approving a 20-year extension to the Ensham thermal coal mine, finding the miners failed to produce an emissions reduction plan or any evidence of mitigation measures actually implemented. President Stilgoe also confirmed that increased GHG emissions engage the right to life and the right to protection of children under the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld), and that a prior environmental authority issued by the Department didn't "cover the field" on human rights. For resource projects, credible and evidenced GHG mitigation isn't optional, it's the price of approval: Ashurst

NAB economists reckon AI is already slowing jobs growth, with employment in high-exposure industries like finance, ICT and professional services running 9% lower than low-exposure roles since ChatGPT dropped in 2022. About 15% of Australian jobs are significantly exposed, and for every 10% of tasks automatable by GenAI, employment growth slows by 2%: Capital Brief

NASA just dropped its first blueprint for a permanent lunar outpost, and yes, Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin scored a contract to help build it. The plan unfolds in three phases, with a continuously occupied base at the Moon's south pole targeted for 2032. The south pole's the pick because of frozen water deposits, which are critical for long-term habitation. The geopolitical angle is hard to miss: the US wants to get there before China does: ABC

👑 Anthropic has raised US$65bn in fresh funding, vaulting its pre-money valuation to US$900bn and leapfrogging OpenAI's US$730bn mark to become the world's most valuable AI start-up. Led by Greenoaks, Sequoia, Altimeter and Dragoneer, with Samsung, Micron and SK Hynix coming in as strategic backers, the raise lifts Anthropic's total funding to over US$130bn: New York Times

👔 HSF Kramer's Michael Ziegelaar is the lead lawyer on the Firmus IPO, one of the ASX's most anticipated floats. When an investor told him he looked "ready for the billion dollar IPO" in his $3k bespoke Maimone suit, Ziegelaar simply replied: "ready!": AFR

🩱 Retail billionaire Brett Blundy's BB Retail Capital is circling the $500m sale of Hanes Australasia, the portfolio behind Bonds, Bras N Things, Berlei and Sheridan. Morgan Stanley is running the process, with EY on vendor DD: The Australian