AI tool to provide 'free' legal advice

G’day.

Welcome to Point Blank. Has anyone tried an espresso with a side of sparkling water? Hey, it could be your Wednesday treat.

Today’s brief: AI tool LawConnect aims to become the largest provider of pro-bono legal assistance for advice on wills to family law and everything in between. The founder, Christian Beck, admits accuracy of advice remains a problem.

Here’s the latest 👇

 💼 Practice Points

• A major win today for resources clients:

  • WA’s putting $14m toward more staff at the EPA and Office of the Appeals Convenor to cut approval times and fast-track job-creating projects. The State is also passing reforms to allow other regulators to issue approvals in parallel with the EPA.

  • Meanwhile, NSW is working to speed up renewables approvals after complaints of being the slowest—a drag on net-zero goals. New guidelines will outline what developers need in applications, aiming to help the government give an early read on whether projects get the green light.

• Mastercard’s latest survey reveals that 1 in 3 merchants are flouting surcharge rules, whether it's dodgy signage, vague disclosures, or downright excessive fees. The ACCC is ramping up surcharge scrutiny—so if you’re playing fast and loose with surcharge rules, consider this is your friendly warning.

• Legal experts sound the alarm on Albanese’s so-called misinformation bill, fearing it could stifle truth rather than curb lies. The bill aims to push social media platforms to self-regulate, through fines no less, under ACMA’s beady eye. Preeminent Constitutional scholar Prof. Anne Twomey warns the bill could create “worse problems”, arguing accurate COVID info would be been wiped from social media under the proposed laws. Twomey went on to gently remind the government that “outsourcing censorship to foreign corporations is generally not a good idea”. With opposition mounting, the bill’s prospects look increasingly tenuous.

🏘️ Word on the Street 

• HWL Ebsworth has just snagged a big fish—Jason Maletic, the former co-lead of Ashurst’s venture capital team, focussed on steering strategic investors and early-stage companies through to successful exits.

• It’s the real-life Mike Ross: a WA lawyer has been struck from the roll after practicing with a cancelled licence.

• DLA Piper names Shane Bilardi as its new managing partner for Australia. Bilardi, who’s been with DLA since 2019 from Norton Rose Fulbright, is currently the head of the firm’s corporate group.

📢 Talking Points

• Richlister Christian Beck has launched an AI tool that will provide ‘free’ legal advice to Australians. Dubbed LawConnect (after Beck’s boat), the tool provides answers to a range of queries, from wills to family disputes. A lawyer then verifies those answers and has the option of signing a LawConnect user as a client if they want to take the matter further. But not everything is smooth sailing for the skipper, with the company’s annual net loss deepening to $238.8m.

• Are lawyers too client-centric? Law professor Laura Empson says yes. She argues that lawyers often struggle to say "no" to clients, leading to ethical slip-ups, and behaviour which favours commercialism over professionalism.

• A New York judge is set to decide whether to overturn Trump’s criminal conviction over hush money paid to Stormy Daniels. Trump’s lawyers are pushing for dismissal, arguing presidential immunity for official actions. Guess we’ll find out if pornstar hush money qualifies as an "official action."

• The government’s proposed social media ban for kids is facing a “fix the parent, not the tech” critique, suggesting the real issue isn’t the technology, but how it's being managed at home. Instead of slapping on a blanket ban, the call is for a more nuanced approach—letting kids benefit from social media’s upside while protecting them from cyberbullying and misinformation.

🏦 The Treasury

• Australia’s economy is picking up steam. A NAB survey showed consumer sentiment is up, while business confidence is at its highest level since early last year.

• Meanwhile, the recent US stock rally looks to have run out of steam as US treasury yields spiked to 4.43%.

• The Aussie dollar has slipped to $0.65, and ASX futures point to a lower start in today’s trading session.

• Australian job adds fall to 3.1% on-month, with applications falling to 9.9% – the first fall in over two years. Employment data will be released this Thursday.

🤝 Deal Room

• We’ve seen a lot of chatter about the ASX shrinking, with IPOs drying up. But KWM’s analysis tells a different story, noting a rise in the ASX’s aggregate market cap and just a slight dip—3.9%, to be precise—in listed companies. Still, this incremental decline isn’t exactly a vote of confidence. With private deals booming, the ASX has its work cut out to keep the public market appealing.

• Sigma’s biggest backer, HMC, just slashed its stake—right after the competition watchdog cleared Sigma’s merger with Chemist Warehouse. Curious timing, right? Looks like HMC might be refocusing on its data and AI ambitions.

• PE firms are calling a UK deal surge in 2025, with bigger transactions on the horizon as interest rates stablise, making acquisition financing easier. Could Australia be next to follow in Britain’s footsteps?

🏗 Sector Specific

Diggers

• Another tough break for Hastings. The federal government just confirmed it hasn’t met the conditions to tap into the $220m taxpayer pledge its Yangibana project, and now, Canberra is taking a hard look at Hastings’ strategic pivot to China before deciding signing off on the loan. With $9.9m cash on hand and $300m bill to finish Yangibana construction, Hastings’ runway looks pretty short.

• With reduced investment in Australian gas, the race to lead LNG supply is slipping away, as the US and Qatar ramp up at full speed. Without action, Australia risks losing its biggest edge—proximity to Asia’s export markets. And with east coast gas shortages on the horizon by 2025, the shift is already hitting home. Even Woodside’s looking abroad, putting $30bn toward expanding in North America earlier this year.

Fin

• FTX is suing Binance and its former CEO, claiming a whopping $1.8bn was “fraudulently transferred” by FTX management to Binance and its execs. FTX alleges that its Alameda Research division used tokens, worth $1.76bn at the time, to buy back Binance’s stake in FTX. The problem is that Alameda was insolvent at the time and couldn’t afford the deal, and FTX says it should never have happened in the first place.

• PwC has settled with 3 of the 8 partners kicked to the curb over the tax leak scandal, with settlements reportedly in the millions. The disputes centred on defamation and not following the right process for firing them. And those millions raise a few eyebrows about the firm’s decision to publicly name all 8 partners last July. PwC has also lodged a counterclaim against former tax partner Paul McNab, claiming significant losses the firm suffered under the tax scandal were caused by him.

• CBA CEO Matt Comyn has told investors growth in the nation’s economy remains slow after the bank posted a net profit of around $2.5 billion in the first quarter of the 2025 financial year. The leading bank also flagged that borrowers are stashing this year’s tax cuts to give a buffer on their mortgages.

Tech & Media

• Salesforce, Telstra and ANZ say AI agents will work in call centres alongside humans. The stance comes after CBA said it was experimenting with a ChatGPT-style platform in its call centres. It looks like the AI will take the first cut, with humans playing a secondary role in case responses go south.

• Tech Council says Australia needs to shift focus away from dividends to become a smarter country by investing in capital growth companies, namely tech.

Retail & Real Estate

• ACCC is sounding the alarm over Rex’s recent exit from key routes, warning that Aussie airline passengers are in for less choice and higher fares, with some flights seeing price hikes as steep as 95%.

• Coles is calling BS on politicians who are trying to shift the blame for the cost-of-living crisis onto supermarkets, saying it’s convenient that the same industry that was celebrated as a lifeline during the pandemic is now getting scapegoated for rising prices. Heroes one day, villains the next.

🧐 Wednesday Wisdom