Face scan fallout

G’day.

Welcome to Point Blank.

Today’s brief:

• Privacy concerns rise over facial recognition tech at clubs.

• Ashurst compares work-life balance in London vs Australia.

• Clyde & Co lose key partners to rival.

🎄Did someone say Christmas giveaway? Details below. 👇

 💼 Practice Points

• ASIC is seeking your feedback on Consultation Paper 381, which proposes updates to Info Sheet 225 for those offering crypto and digital asset products and services. This comes as new digital asset offerings flood the market, with industry players calling for clearer guidance on ASIC’s regulatory perimeter. These proposed changes offer long-awaited clarity on how the Australian financial services regime applies to digital assets.

• Despite new Court directions on limiting or even banning the use of AI, only 10% of law firms and 21% of corporate legal teams have implemented AI policies, says Thomson Reuters. If these numbers extend to the broader market, there’s work to be done to get company policies up to speed.

• We’ve all had our face scanned while waiting outside some dodgy club. Well, turns out your face might be stuck in a database forever. In a letter to the national privacy body, Victoria’s privacy commissioner raised concerns that venues and retailers are buying up facial recognition tech from vendors who offer zero transparency on whether their systems comply with Australia’s data security and privacy guidelines—like how the data is stored and, crucially, whether it gets deleted properly. The OAIC spokesperson made it clear: “It’s on organisations to ensure their practices align with our rules”. Agencies must pass on all privacy and security requirements to their contractors—no exceptions.

🏘️ Word on the Street 

• Clyde & Co are hit by another major defection as Thomson Geer snaps up construction partner Phillip Coady and financial services regulatory partner Liam Hennessy. And it’s not just the partners—14 lawyers are following them to Thomson Geer, too. That’s on top of the cyber exodus we mentioned yesterday…

• Baker McKenzie’s merger plans are over. Despite management pitching the move as a way to cut costs and boost international referrals, the proposal to merge financially with the firm’s Asian division was shut down—again. Fewer than 30% of salaried partners backed the plan, with overall support falling short of the required 75%.

• Nicholas Owens, SC—the barrister who successfully proved allegations that Victoria Cross winner Ben Roberts-Smith was a war criminal and a liar—is about to take his talents to the Federal Court. Owens is one of eight new appointments to the Court.

• Mills Oakley has expanded its ranks, appointing Cite Legal founder Monique Carroll as a partner. The move grows the firm’s partnership to 170 nationwide. Carroll joins the firm’s DR and insolvency team in Melbourne.

📢 Talking Points

• Ashurst’s Lucy Mackenzie says the workload in London law firms is pretty much on par with Australia. But there’s one key difference—British culture wins when it comes to time off. You get 6 weeks of annual leave, not 4. And it doesn’t roll over every year, which means longer, more guilt-free holidays.

• Extinction Rebellion made their mark at A&O Shearman’s London HQ, storming the building with smoke bombs and fake oil. Five protestors were reportedly arrested after the group demanded A&O sever ties with the fossil fuels industry.

• In case you missed it, South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol imposed a surprise decree to impose martial law, only to reverse it just hours later. The defence minister even had troops on standby to enforce the decree. The backlash was swift and fierce, with the main opposition party, the Democratic Party, now planning to vote on a motion to impeach Yoon.

• France’s National Assembly has ousted Prime Minister Michel Barnier after a no-confidence motion passed with 331 votes, marking the first such toppling in over 60 years. The motion, spearheaded by left-wing parties and supported by Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally, dismantled Barnier’s three-month-old minority government.

🏦 The Treasury

• Bitcoin finally smashed through the US$100k barrier, driven by Donald Trump’s decision to nominate a crypto advocate to lead the SEC.

  

  ASX as at market close. Commodities and crypto in US dollars.

🤝 Deal Room

• The UK’s competition watchdog has given the go-ahead to the £16.5bn ($A25.7bn) Vodafone-Three merger, creating Britain’s new mobile giant.

• Time kills deals? In Southern Cross Austereo’s case, restrictive agreements are the real deal-killers. More than a year after private equity put Southern Cross up for sale, the company still can’t land a 100% bid. Why? A $100m traffic data sharing deal with ATN from 2016 has turned into a poison pill, with change-of-control payments and a slew of clauses that are unpalatable to buyers.

• David Di Pilla’s HMC Capital is making moves in the nation’s energy transition, dropping a cool $950m to acquire a major renewable generation portfolio from France’s Neoen. Di Pilla says the firm is seeing "significant interest" from local super funds eager to back the renewable energy boom.

• Following the Northern Star/De Grey deal and Sumitomo’s 30% stake grab in Rio’s Winu gold mine, Argonaut is predicting more M&A action in the gold sector, with single-asset gold companies shaping up to be likely targets.

🏗 Sector Specific

Diggers

• MinRes has backflipped on its gag order involving former procurement officer Steven Pigozzo. MinRes' law firm, Bennett Law, defended the company in a workplace matter against Pigozzo, successfully securing the restrictive suppression order. The order had the effect of blocking the board from sharing court documents with their lawyers. Now, the company is seeking to lift the gag order. This sudden pivot points to a board push for a full account of Pigozzo’s allegations.

• Rio Tinto CEO Jakob Stausholm has shot down fresh calls to unify the miner’s dual-company structure. In fact, he’s floated the idea of going in the opposite direction—potentially strengthening the structure with a share issuance on the Australian side.

Fin

• NRMA is facing a Fair Work case from a former in-house lawyer who claims she was unfairly dismissed after blowing the whistle.

• Blackstone is gearing up to supercharge its data centre play, AirTrunk. The firm is reportedly in talks with banks to secure a hefty $4bn multi-currency loan to fuel the Australian operator’s next growth phase. AirTrunk, valued at $24bn following Blackstone and CPP Investments' acquisition, already carries $7bn in debt, including a 2023 sustainability-linked loan. KWM, Allens and Baker McKenzie all played a part in the initial acquisition.

Tech & Media

• Ten settles a case brought by former journalist Tegan George, who alleged the network’s Canberra bureau had a "sexually hostile, demeaning and oppressive" culture.

• Thomson Reuters is going all-in on AI, with a US$200m (A$310m) investment this year alone. And they’re not stopping there—after recently snapping up start-ups Casetext and Safe Sign Technologies, the company’s gearing up for more growth through acquisitions.

• Commonwealth DPP alleges that the former Vocus chairman sold $25m in shares after learning a proposed takeover bid had fallen through—before the market got the news. The chairman’s lawyers say the sale was just business as usual, pointing out that he had been gradually offloading shares before the $25m transaction, and it was all part of a pre-planned exit strat. The jury will start deliberating next week.

Retail & Real Estate

• Charter Hall is chasing a capital partner for a $3bn luxury apartment and hotel development overlooking Sydney’s Hyde Park. With stakes of up to 50% on the table, the 55-storey project at 201 Elizabeth Street will feature a 441-room luxury hotel, 264 high-end apartments, and premium retail.

• Is it time to book another holiday? Australian airlines are opening new routes faster than ever, adding more than a dozen since March. New highlights include Delta’s Brisbane-LA, Turkish Airlines’ Istanbul-Sydney, and Qantas’s Perth-Paris services while India, South Korea, and Japan have seen massive capacity boosts.