Meghan Markle’s Russian Billionaire Connection Has a Curious LawFuel Twist As we are all once again subjected to more emetic Harry-and-Meghan headline hogging, this time yet another trans-Atlantic move and apparently the possible resurrection of her acting gig, I’m energised by the idea of her appearing in Guy Ritchie’s gangster romp ‘The Gentlemen’. What ever
Power Points: Thomson Reuters has launched Thomson, its first proprietary large language model, trained using its vast stores of legal, tax and professional information. The significance is not simply that another AI model has arrived. Thomson Reuters is attempting to turn the Westlaw and Practical Law data moat into an AI moat, reducing its dependence
The Oligarch Lost Under California’s Anti-SLAPP Law. So He Came Here Key Points: >>A SLAPP is not a case you lose, but one that nobody ever gets to win. The point is the legal process rather than the merit of the case – the letter, the interlocutory application, the costs order, the settlement. >>New Zealand
Four SLAPPs In A Decade Of New Zealand Judgments. LawFuel Was One Of Them Read More »
New Zealand’s Quiet Constitutional War Is Getting Louder Attorney-General Chris Bishop, fresh from yet another National Party leadership stoush and infrastructure fisticuffs, has tipped his toes into the quicksands of tikanga Māori, judicial power and climate litigation. For a former Russell McVeagh and Crown Law summer clerk with scant hands on legal experience the boy
John Bowie, LawFuel publisher The takedown by a UK Judge of Prince Harry and his celebrity claimants’ case against the Daily Mail was just about as savage as any major litigation could be. Apart from the financial consequences for the complainants in the case, the actual legal ‘setup’ that lead to its implementation was as
The Judge’s Brutal Verdict on the Lawyering Behind Harry’s £50m Mail Disaster Read More »
Sam Neill may never have practised law but he has spent a large amount of time circling the profession, as though the legal world kept trying to recruit him before Hollywood arrived with dinosaurs and better catering. Before Jurassic Park, before the vineyard, before the endlessly reposted photos with farm animals, Sam Neill, who died
If Meredith Connell wanted to change the story about where it is going, it just made a very deliberate move with 21 promotions.
After months of scrutiny over senior departures, a strategic review, and a lingering question about whether the firm was in transition or simply treading water, MC has promoted 21 lawyers to partner, senior associate and associate ranks, and made a lateral partner hire and a new office play.
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Meredith Connell’s “Next Generation” Push – A Promotion Surge Follows Partner Drain Read More »
When the Crown finds itself steering through politically radioactive terrain, the playbook remains remarkably consistent: call in the legal adults in the room to sort the wheat from the political and bureaucratic chaff. When doing so, the government is fishing in a relatively shallow pool, but the go to operators remain consistently capable of rising
ANZ’s outgoing CEO Antonia Watson leaves with a major litigation gamble hanging over the bank, specifically an appeal against a High Court ruling that could cost up to NZ$125 million and reshape expectations around consumer credit compliance. Her departure coincides with a moment where ANZ’s problem is no longer simply a technical disclosure breach, but
Antonia Watson Exits As ANZ Doubles Down On NZ$125m CCCFA Appeal Read More »
When ANZ Bank New Zealand filed its appeal of Justice Geoffrey Venning’s 4 May 2026 summary judgment, it opened the next chapter of a legal saga that has tested not just the limits of consumer finance law, but the boundaries of what banks can do when the law doesn’t suit them, including trying to change it.
It is also followed by the most recent move of a senior jurist to the independent bar, another Bench-to-Bar move that is becoming increasingly common.
The story of Simons v ANZ is, at its core, a story about access to justice. It is a class action victory that arguably would never have been possible without the strategic deployment of litigation funding to level the playing field between individual borrowers and one of the country’s largest financial institutions.
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$125m, A Retired Judge, and The Case Australian-Owned Kiwi Banks Tried to Kill Read More »
