Grad rankings revealed

👋 G’day

Today’s brief:

• HSF leads all law firms, ranking 8^th in the Aussie Top 100 grad employer list.

• CBA mandates minimum office hours to fight ‘coffee badging’.

• UK jury deliberates on Sam Kerr’s racial harassment case.

Enjoy your fleeting coffee badging this morning ☕️

PRACTICE POINTS

Star’s $50M credit scandal

• In the Star Casino trial, ASIC’s barrister revealed that ex-CEO Matthias Bekier approved $50m in credit for high-roller gamblers Qin Sixin and Alvin Chau within minutes, breaching its corporate duties. Barrister Higgins pointed out there’s no explanation as to how management satisfied itself about concerns that Qin may have been involved in money laundering. A “reasonable director” should have questioned whether Star should even be in business with such individuals or extending credit to these levels: Capital Brief

• NSW Supreme Court Chief has a clear message for lawyers: those who ignore the AI practice note should not expect the court's sympathy. Bell CJ said, "the rule of law depends on… responsible practitioners exercising care, skill and judgment and abiding by their ethical obligations". Practitioners are accountable for their conduct, but Gen AI platforms are not: Lawyerly

• The CFMEU scandal exposed its criminal behaviour, even among its senior ranks. A decade-old report by Graeme Samuel exposed a tangled web between Cbus and the union, raising red flags about CFMEU's influence. Samuel’s solution? Bring in more independent directors and scrap the rule letting the Australian Council of Trade Unions hand-pick the chairperson—arguing the role needs to be “clearly independent”: AFR

WORD ON THE STREET

HSF wins on grad employment

• HSF is the place to be, ranking 8^th in Australia's Top 100 Graduate Employers and the only law firm in the top 10.

  • MinterEllison follows at 26^th

  • Allens trailing in 39^th

  • EY & Deloitte also made it in the top 40 – congrats

  • Ashurst was the next law firm at 64^th

  • Hall & Willcox at 89^th

  • White & Case, Corrs and KWM just scraped in the top 100

• KWM welcomes Lizzie Knight to the partnership—another one making the jump from Corrs. Knight, who specialises in FIRB, brings over 25 years of experience in high-profile property capital transactions, with a focus on cross-border investments: Australasian Lawyer

• Clayton Utz has swept up EY’s lead to its partnership in a move to strengthen the firm’s risk advisory team. Doug Nixon joins from EY, where he was the banking & capital markets lead and previously the head of EY Oceania’s financial services risk management practice: LawyersWeekly

TALKING POINTS

Trump’s tariff wars continue

• Trump targets Australia (or at least we’re collateral fire). Trump is slapping 25% tariffs on steel and 10% on aluminium imports into the US, and the fallout was immediate—wiping $15bn from the ASX200. The move has been labelled an ‘insult to Australians’ in Congress. But never fear, Albo’s swooping in to save the day, working on a last-minute call with the President to convince him to spare Australia from the tariffs. Meanwhile, gold price hit $2.9k on the news: Reuters, The Australian

• French President Emmanuel Macron has unveiled a €109bn (A$179bn) AI investment plan, aiming to boost France's presence in the industry dominated by the US and China: AFR

• A UK jury is deliberating whether Matildas captain Sam Kerr racially harassed a police officer, calling him “f---ing stupid and white” after a chaotic night in London. Kerr admitted to blending insults about “stupidity” and “whiteness,” but denied malice, blaming her frustration after being dismissed by a taxi driver. Her barrister argued the charges were more about her fame than genuine harm. If convicted, Kerr faces up to two years in jail and the potential loss of her captaincy.

• The WFH crackdown continues. Woolies joins the list of employers demanding workers be back at their desks. The supermarket giant has ordered their 10,000 employees to be in the office at least 3 days per week.

TREASURY

DEAL ROOM

Goldman takes M&A crown

• Goldman Sachs is now the undisputed leader of M&A, dethroning Morgan Stanley with a cool $US3.29bn ($5.2bn) in advisory fees, while Morgan Stanley takes home $US2.38bn ($3.8bn): AFR

• Fortescue’s bid for Red Hawk Mining is now unconditional, and payment will be made to Red Hawk shareholders who accepted its offer.

• Elon Musk and his investor group are offering a whopping $US97.4bn (A$155bn) to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, but CEO Sam Altman quickly shut it down – “no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want” This move escalates the ongoing feud between the two over the future of OpenAI, the AI startup at the centre of the generative AI boom. Musk hit back, calling Altman a “swindler”: AFR

• Pernod Ricard is popping the cork on potential champagne M&A, with reports suggesting it’s exploring a sale of its G.H. Mumm brand. The iconic French champagne house could fetch a hefty price—likely 3x its annual sales of €200m (A$328m): Reuters

• Ainsworth Gaming Technology, the $246m pokies machine maker, has had informal takeover discussions with its biggest shareholder, Novomatic. This comes after a lacklustre response from rival bidders, who showed initial interest but ultimately didn’t bite on the struggling business: AFR

SECTOR SPECIFIC

Dovetail boss sued for harassment

🚜 DIGGERS

• Just a week after Pilbara Minerals wrapped up its deal with Latin Resources, the lithium miner is now flagging a net loss of $68m-$71m for the first half of the year.

• A game of energy vs environment. Woodside’s North West Shelf project is at a crossroads, with a pivotal decision looming on whether to extend operations for another 50 years. Proponents argue it’s essential for national energy security, with Woodside claiming it could power "every home in a city the size of Perth for about 175 years”. On the flip side, environmental activists are sounding the alarm, warning that the proposed $30bn Browse project could unleash a staggering 4 billion tonnes of carbon emissions: AFR

• In more Woodside news, three anti-gas activists behind a contro protest at Woodside CEO Meg O’Neill’s City Beach home have dodged jail time. They’ve been hit with fines ranging from $2k to $2.5k but say they have no regrets about their protest: The Australian 

🏦 FIN

• CBA is cracking down on "coffee badging", telling staff they need to spend at least 4 hours in the office each day. The term refers to employees who pop in just long enough to grab a coffee before heading elsewhere to work: AFR

• Macquarie Group’s profit held steady for the first three quarters of the fiscal year despite a dip in its commodities trading arm. While its asset management unit saw substantial growth, the overall net profit was flat compared to last year, with market-facing businesses struggling due to weak commodity market conditions: Bloomberg

🏡 RETAIL & REAL ESTATE

• Star Entertainment might sell off its stake in a new Brisbane complex to its Hong Kong partners, Chow Tai Fook Enterprises and Far East Consortium, but their initial offers were too low. The struggling casino operator is urgently trying to raise capital after warning last month that its future is at risk due to cash shortages: Bloomberg

• The Super Members Council is sounding the alarm again over potential reforms that would let buyers dip into their super to get a foot on the property ladder. Looking across the ditch to NZ, where this is already allowed, the results aren’t pretty—house prices there soared 134% from June 2010 to June 2024, outpacing Australian growth by 50%. Meanwhile, homeownership rates for people in their 30s dropped by about 7%: The Australian

• JB Hi-Fi is on a roll—sales hit $5.67bn, with net profit up 8% to $285.4m, and the group is celebrating a better-than-expected 10% sales jump in the last six months of 2024. But get ready for more expensive white goods — manufacturers are already eyeing price hikes thanks to a weaker Aussie dollar and the latest flare-ups in the Trump trade war: AFR

📱 TECH

• Software start-up Dovetail CEO Benjamin Humphrey has owned up to poor judgment after admitting to a relationship with an employee, but he’s ready to use hundreds of text messages to back up his claim it was consensual. Meanwhile, lawyer Bethany Lo Russo is suing Dovetail and Humphrey for sexual harassment and discrimination, alleging the company turned a blind eye to a non-consensual relationship and a toxic, boozy workplace culture: AFR

• A former WiseTech employee is suing the software giant’s billionaire founder. Ms. Heidemann, who worked at WiseTech before moving to Mr White’s RealWise Management, is making an employment claim in the Federal Court, alleging breaches of general protections. She’s enlisted KMD Law & Advisory—the same firm that represented Linda Rogan, White’s former lover: AFR

• OpenAI is pushing ahead on its plans to reduce its dependence on Nvidia by developing its own in-house AI chips: Reuters

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