Law school monopoly

PRACTICE POINTS

ACCC’s $8.25m greenwashing win

• The ACCC has nailed Clorox’s Aussie arm with an $8.25m penalty for falsely marketing its GLAD garbage bags as made from “50% ocean plastic.” The bags actually used plastic from inland Indonesian communities—nowhere near the sea. The Court found the blue wave imagery and green packaging misled consumers. Clorox admitted fault, pulled the product in 2023, and must now post corrective notices, roll out a compliance program, and cover part of the ACCC’s legal costs: Business News Australia

• ASIC consults on its plan to increase visibility of financial firm’s breach and complaints data. The regulator plans to publish two dashboards containing firm-level Reportable Situations and Internal Dispute Resolution data in the second half of 2025. The move is an effort to drive transparency and lift standards for financial services providers.

• Director sentiment sees a slight lift, showing an improvement to economic and business conditions for the first half of 2025. The AICD’s latest Director Sentiment Index shows a 10-point bump to -23.9. We’re still in the red, but the best shift since 2021. Recession fears are easing (25% now, down from 46%), but directors are sweating Trump-era trade tensions and global protectionism. Top local worries? Economic conditions, regulation and cyber risk.

WORD ON THE STREET

College of Law’s monopoly

• Chief Justice Andrew Bell slams the $10k College of Law course, calling out its poor quality, sky-high fees and reports of rampant cheating. A new 4,500-person survey backed him up. Bell says it pushes juniors toward major firms who fund the course and away from the public sector or community work. Bell has set up a judicial working group to crack open the College of Law’s monopoly: AFR

• Clifford Chance has named Mark Currell as its new Australia Managing Partner, taking over from Richard Gordon. Mark’s led the firm’s M&A and private capital build-out since joining in 2018, and now steps up to steer 200 staff across Sydney and Perth through the firm’s next growth phase.

• Simone Herbert-Lowe joins Clyde & Co as partner to lead its Australian cyber risk practice. A former founder of Law & Cyber, she’s trained over 10,000 professionals and advised parliaments and courts. She’ll plug into the firm’s global Cyber One network, offering clients 24/7 response across 70 offices worldwide.

• Liza Carver will step down as ACCC Commissioner in May after a standout stint at the competition watchdog, where she chaired the Enforcement Committee and helped shape merger reviews and digital platform regulation. Carver will return to private practice at HSF.

TALKING POINTS

Big Law bends to Trump

• Trump's war on Big Law has escalated, with elite firms like Kirkland & Ellis, Latham, and A&O Shearman agreeing to provide US$600m worth of legal services—despite no prior beef with him. The message: no one's safe. Legal insiders warn it's less about revenge and more about control, as Trump builds a legal war chest with the US$940m in free legal services he's reaped so far: Bloomberg Law

• Xi Jinping’s regional tour is all about damage control. With Trump cranking up tariffs on China but giving others a grace period, Xi’s racing to get Southeast Asia on side. His pitch: China’s a stable, long-term partner—unlike Washington’s tariff whiplash. He’s promising cross-border rail links and cooperation agreements on 5G and AI to keep Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia from siding with the US: Bloomberg

• It’s all about the tax perks this election. Dutton’s pitching a one-off $1.2k tax offset for those earning $48k–$104k, paid at tax time if the Coalition wins. Labor’s counter? A $1k instant tax write-off from 2026–27 for all income earners – no receipts required. With both sides also dangling first homebuyer perks, tax cuts are the election’s new hottest battleground: ABC

• In other news, Katy Perry goes cosmic thanks to Blue Origin. Jeff Bezos needed some alone time so he sent his fiancée Lauren Sanchez to space. He kept her company with an all-female (celebrity, obviously) crew, which also included Gayle King – known for being Oprah Winfrey’s best friend. Not a bad gig if you ask us. The 10-min joyride into orbit provided minutes of weightlessness as Bezos shoots for the stars instead of astronauts because there’s only so much skiing one can do: AFR

TREASURY

DEAL ROOM

HSF tops M&A rankings

• Mergermarket M&A rankings for Q1 have dropped. Here’s the deal value breakdown for Australasia:

  • HSF came first with A$18.1bn 

  • KWM came second with A$13.8bn 

  • Corrs came third with A$7.02bn

  As for deal value, KWM topped the list with 23 deals and Allens and Hamilton Locke tied for second with 15 deals each.

• Bellevue Gold has received unsolicited takeover bids and appointed UBS to run a strategic review, after slashing production guidance and raising $156.5m at a 26% discount. Bellevue hasn’t named bidders, but any deal would join a gold sector M&A wave already in motion: AFR

• United Tractors has tapped Standard Chartered as it eyes EMR and GEAR’s Ravenswood gold mine, with bids rumoured near $2bn. Ravenswood’s hedging contracts could complicate price tags, but higher gold forecasts are adding pressure. Regis, Chifeng, and the Salim family’s Mach Metals are in the mix. UBS and Azure are running the sale: The Australian

• Five V Capital has tapped Goldman Sachs to sell its minority stake in Automic Group, targeting a $500m+ payday. The Perth-based share registry outfit turned $64m revenue last year and went on a mini acquisition spree, snapping up advisory firms Endeavour Corporate and Grange Consulting and ASX-listed Advanced Share Registry: AFR

SECTOR SPECIFIC

Meta’s existential threat

🚜 DIGGERS

• ASIC’s suing Wiluna Mining’s ex-chair and IR boss after the company issued $7m in shares to a mystery Russian investor who never paid a cent. Wiluna still told the ASX it had raised $57.3m. The investor vanished before Wiluna collapsed. ASIC says the execs misled the market while the stock was still trading: AFR

• Beijing has frozen exports of key rare earths and magnets—used in EVs, drones, and missiles—in response to Trump’s tariff hike. China makes 90% of the world’s rare earth magnets, stemming from its deposits in Jiangxi province and the powerful magnet production hub in Ganzhou. Aussie Resources Minister Madeleine King now calls for Australia to create a strategic reserve of critical minerals, including rare earths. US firms face a 45-day licensing wait, risking supply chain chaos: Mining.com, AFR

🏦 FIN

• Bank of Queensland is staring down a $200m legal fight from 70 ex-branch owners, claiming they were short-changed in BoQ’s forced buyback of 114 stores. The group, backed by Morris Mennilli and BDO, is demanding double the payout already made: AFR

• BNPL contender Zip Co made headlines when its shares bolted by nearly 10% in early trading after it announced a $50m share buyback, pencilled for 23 April. The move comes after the Full Federal Court favoured Firstmac’s trademark infringement case over the use of the word ‘zip’. Zip Co intends to apply for special leave to the High Court: Capital Brief

🏡 RETAIL & REAL ESTATE

• Echo Law has launched a class action against Bupa, alleging its aged care homes failed to meet promised care standards between July 2019 and April 2025. The claim accuses Bupa of systemic understaffing and breaching consumer guarantees. Backed by CASL, the suit aims to hold the aged care giant accountable for what residents say was care well below par: Business News Australia

• Frustrated by the slow pace of electric aviation, Dick Smith’s dangling a $22k trophy for the first electric flight from England to Australia. Inspired by the 1919 Great Air Race, the challenge highlights how far plane battery tech still has to go. Smith’s hoping a Rolls Royce or a young enthusiast rises to the challenge. Any takers? The Australian

📱 TECH & START UP

• The FTC has kicked off its blockbuster trial to break up Meta, accusing it of snapping up Instagram and WhatsApp to crush competition. A Meta loss could force it to sell off its crown jewels—Instagram alone is forecast to rake in US$37bn this year. Zuckerberg’s expected on the stand, in a case that could reshape Meta's future: Reuters

• Australian medtech Heidi Health has surged past 1m consults, helping GPs tackle burnout by using AI to record consults and transcribe notes into medical records. Backed by Blackbird, founder Thomas Kelly started the company in 2019 to eliminate missed diagnoses: The Australian