HSF Kramer is targeting a Texas office within the next two years, with chair Rebecca Maslen-Stannage flagging energy as the drawcard, a natural fit for the firm's strong Australian energy practice. A merger with a local firm or a greenfield office are both on the table. Ten months post-merger, the firm hits 652 partners on 1 May, with its US partner headcount growing from 110 to 120: Point Blank

DLA Piper voted to scrap its Swiss verein for a global LLP from 1 May. But don't get too excited: separate profit pools survive for now, with a pay consultation for EMEA and APAC partners pencilled in for later this year. Co-CEO Charles Severs called the vote result "more overwhelming than I could ever hope for": Point Blank

KPMG and EY are quietly demoting equity partners to salaried roles in the UK, concentrating profits among top performers. KPMG has a brutal internal term for the targets: "HUNCs", high-units-no-clients. Some were called into "career conversations" with no prior warning. Average KPMG equity partner pay sits at £880k. Law firms have de-equitised for years. Now, the accountants are catching up: AFR

Microsoft just dropped a contract review agent inside Word, complete with playbook-based redlining, clause analysis and tracked changes, no third-party tool required. After quietly poaching an 18-person team from legal AI startup Robin, the move looks less like a feature update and more like a land grab: NB

HWLE Lawyers has handed Kris Hopkins the sole CEO role, wrapping up an 18-month co-leadership stretch that followed the sudden death of Juan Martinez in 2024. Co-leader Russell Mailler has retired. Hopkins now steps up, with the firm saying it's clocking its strongest growth in over a decade: Point Blank