Law firm rankings revealed

PRACTICE POINTS

ASX loosens counterparty disclosure

• In a recent compliance update, ASX has confirmed listed entities can now withhold a counterparty’s name in market-sensitive contract announcements. The announcement must:

  • confirm that the entity does not consider that the counterparty’s identity would have a material effect on the price of the securities

  • confirm all other material info has been disclosed

  • include a description of the counterparty, including its standing / creditworthiness.

  But ASX warns this won’t be the norm—non-disclosure must be carefully assessed and justified.

• Choosing the seat of arbitration is no longer just about neutrality and good courts. Today, three key risks matter:

  • Can the award be re-opened? Some jurisdictions (like in England) allow a full assessment of the arbitrators’ finding on jurisdiction, rehashing issues = considerable time and cost.

  • How do sanctions apply? Some seats (like the EU) block enforcement of claims brought by Russian parties, while the US and UK aren’t as stringent.

  • Will courts back arbitration? Some jurisdictions (like Russia) block arbitrations, forcing arbitrations to be transferred to Russian courts.

  Pick the wrong seat, and your arbitration may be delayed, derailed, or unenforceable.

• Chambers has released its Fintech 2025 Guide, setting out what regulatory hurdles are on the horizon. The message? The Aussie Fintech scene is bracing for a shake-up. Major reforms are coming for BNPL, digital assets, payments and AI. New payments licensing framework is set to land soon. BNPL will cop stricter checks now as a low-cost credit contract. Rules are still lagging for digital asset ownership. But the new Anti-Money Laundering rules now capture digital assets and currencies. On the tech front? PayTo, blockchain and AI are leading the solution charge, reshaping how money moves and risk is managed.

WORD ON THE STREET

Law firm popularity contest

• The Legal Firm of Choice Survey reveals which firms are on the up.

  • Gaining popularity: Hamilton Locke soared 25 places to 20^th. Sparke Helmore jumped 16 spots, fuelled by 17 lateral hires. Dentons, Thomson Geer, NRF and Maddocks also climbed the ranks.

  • Losing ground: PwC Legal slid 16 spots after its tax scandal. DLA Piper dropped 15. Slaters, Clyde & Co, Piper Alderman and EY also took a hit: Lawyers Weekly

• HSF has promoted 8 new partners in Australia, boosting its strength in private capital, energy and digital. It’s the first time a lawyer in HSF’s Digital Legal Delivery team, Emily Coghlan, has been made partner. The moves follow the firm’s global shake-up with its Kramer Levin merger.

• Ex-KPMG consultant Katherine Tobias and software dev Matt Bailey have landed $1m in pre-seed backing for their AI start-up InsightWise. The raise—led by Aliavia Ventures and No Brand Holdings—will help scale their workflow tool that’s already landed NSW Gov and top consultancies as clients. “Our platform creates a clear path from raw data to high-impact decision-making in minutes,” Tobias said: AFR

TALKING POINTS

New AI gatekeepers

• New startups like Created by Humans, Narrativ and Prorata are stepping in as AI middlemen between creators and AI firms—offering tech companies licensed datasets of books, voices and articles. The pitch? Aggregate individual rights into neat, sellable packages, cut deals with AI developers, and get ahead of the copyright lawsuits: Bloomberg Law

• A UQ law lecturer is under fire for warning students who walked out of her lecture on Indigenous legal history that she remembered their faces and they’d struggle to get jobs. She accused them of “racist comments” and told them to “watch what you say and what you do.” UQ initially backed her—but now says it’s taking “appropriate action.” The Australian

• Are part-time CEOs the new thing? Humm Group boss Stuart Grimshaw is permanently reducing his hours, in a rare move for an ASX-listed CEO. And he took home close to $3m last year. Humm says he’ll stay in charge, with a new chief of staff stepping in to help. Must be nice: The Australian

• Adelaide is set to host COP31 in 2026—if Labor wins its joint bid with Pacific nations. Albanese says the UN climate summit would be a major economic win for the city, boasting the plan on the campaign trail. It’s a high-profile green pitch with a side of local vote appeal: Bloomberg

TREASURY

DEAL ROOM

VC bounce back

• VC funding hit $993m in Q1 2025—Australia’s best start since 2022—as biotech, climate tech and hardware outpaced software. AI-led startups topped the deal count, with 62% of raises boasting some AI edge. But sovereign risk is back on the radar, as VCs fret over tariffs, supply chains and over-reliance on US data: Capital Brief

• Canada’s Robex Resources has launched a $120m ASX IPO to fund its Kiniero gold project in Guinea, offering CDIs at $3.11—a 14.8% discount to its TSX last close. Canaccord and Euroz Hartleys are joint leads. Robex is one of several TSX-listed miners eyeing Aussie capital as they hunt deeper liquidity and a local investor base: AFR

• Airtasker is eyeing opportunistic deals as it ramps up its media-for-equity model. The online marketplace provider is not actively on the hunt, but would happily nab a deal like Taskrabbit, CEO Tim Fung said. Any deal would likely be debt or cash strapped and would target software integration, rather than a geographic reach. The ASX-listed company sits with a ~$120m market cap, having spent $51m on its global media partnerships in 2024: Capital Brief, MergerMarket

• SunCable is chasing US$100m ($157m) to fund the next stage of its Australia-Asia Power Link. That’s Mike Cannon-Brookes’ ambitious plan to send solar energy from the NT to Singapore via a 4300km undersea cable. Moelis and Align Capital are running the raise, which follows wins on environmental and Singaporean approvals: AFR

SECTOR SPECIFIC

Taco Bell gets the chop

🚜 DIGGERS

• Evolution Mining is raking it in, selling gold at over $5100/oz—triple its $1600 cost—thanks to surging bullion prices and a no-hedge strategy. Quarterly cash flow jumped 25% to $207m, and new output from WA’s Mungari plant is already paying off: AFR

• BHP’s dropping $20.5bn over the next decade to supercharge its Chilean copper ops, including a $10.8bn spend at Escondida—already the world’s top producer. With copper demand forecast to jump 70% by 2050, BHP says Chile must act with urgency to execute copper projects or risk losing its edge: AustralianMining.com

🏦 FIN

• CBA, Westpac and Rabobank are under fire for a $497m “sustainability-linked” loan to salmon farm Tassal. Critics say its greenwashing, with the deal propping up salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour—blamed for mass fish deaths and pushing a rare skate species to extinction: AFR

• AMP execs are pocketing bonuses for boosting the firm’s “reputation” Thanks to RepTrak metrics, 30% of long-term bonuses now hinge on AMP not being the worst. The trick is AMP is being compared to scandal-riddled peers like Qantas, ANZ, Optus and Rio Tinto. Critics say it’s a low bar five years post-royal commission. Do they also say no good deed goes unpunished? AFR

🏡 RETAIL & REAL ESTATE

• Nissan’s cutting Rogue SUV production in Japan by 13,000 units over May–July as Trump’s 25% import tariff bites. The US is Nissan’s biggest market and the Rogue is Nissan’s top-selling US model—making up a quarter of sales: Reuters

• Collins Foods is ditching Taco Bell in Australia after it failed to fire against $3.4bn rival Guzman y Gomez. Instead, new CEO Xavier Simonet is doubling down on KFC—planning 40–70 new stores in Germany and more in Australia as chicken keeps outperforming tacos: AFR

📱 TECH & START UP

• VCs funding floods back into Aussie startups. Q1 of 2025 saw Aussie VCs pour nearly $1bn into 100 deals—the best start since 2022. Biotech, climate and hardware led over software, while 62% of raises name-dropped AI. But behind the AI hype, investor focus is shifting—sovereign risk, tariffs and US-China tensions are now front of mind when backing deep tech and data-hungry startups: Capital Brief, AFR

• Nvidia’s taking an US$5.5bn ($8.7bn) hit after the US abruptly blocked exports of its H20 chips to China—despite the chip being built to comply with earlier rules. The H20 line was expected to pull in up to US$15bn. Now, with indefinite export bans and new AI rules looming, investors wiped 5% off Nvidia stock in after-hours trade: Reuters