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  • December 5, 2007 |

    White collar, black arts

    In his summer of discontent, there were few days of undiluted glory for attorney general Alberto Gonzales and 17 July was no exception. Just six weeks before he resigned, Gonzales stood before hundreds of federal prosecutors and investigators in the US Department of Justice's Great Hall to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the department's Corporate Fraud Task Force and declare victory over white-collar corruption.

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  • December 4, 2007 |

    US duo carve up $19bn Vivendi video game deal

    Gibson Dunn & Crutcher and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom have won lead advisory roles on the merger of computer games giants Vivendi and Activision. The $18.9bn (£9.2bn) deal will see the makers of best-selling computer games including James Bond and World of Warcraft come together to form the world's largest video games publisher ahead of market rival Electronic Arts.

    1 minute read

  • November 29, 2007 |

    A year in Paris

    Plus ca change; plus c'est la meme chose. An old adage maybe, but an apt summary by one managing partner of the past year for France's independent law firms.

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  • November 21, 2007 |

    Gibson Dunn promotes 14 to partnership

    US law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher is making up 14 new partners in this year's promotion round. The West Coast firm has promoted 14 lawyers with effect from 1 January, 2008, with the firm's London office gaining one new partner. Rachel Couter, who will become a partner in the firm's London litigation practice, is the only lawyer to be promoted outside the US. The firm made up five new partners in Los Angeles and four in Washington DC.

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  • November 14, 2007 |

    Online special: Majority of UK lawyers expect an upsurge in bank-on-bank litigation

    Leading lawyers are united in the belief that the market downturn will lead to an increase in cases between financial institutions, as firms face up to the prospect of taking on the big banks. Claire Ruckin reports on the results of the latest Big Question survey

    1 minute read

  • November 14, 2007 |

    Deal Week Dispatch: 14/11/07

    Deal Week Dispatch brings readers an early taster of news from Legal Week's unparalleled deals coverage, with Ashurst, Wragges and Bakers among the movers and shakers

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  • October 31, 2007 |

    Companies under backdating spotlight shell out massive legal fees for independent investigations

    Perhaps no corporate scandal of recent years has created such wide-ranging troubles as the stock option backdating mess. Companies have spent untold millions on legal fees for independent investigations, government negotiations and shareholder and derivative suits. And even if the companies clean house, the disgraced executives can - and do - insist that their former employers keep paying their high-priced lawyers, thanks to indemnification contracts that are a standard perk in executive suites. In the case of Brocade Communications Systems, which cut ties with its convicted former chief executive, Gregory Reyes, legal fees could eventually reach $100m (£48.7m).

    1 minute read

  • October 24, 2007 |

    View from here: Countering corruption

    Enacted by the US Congress in 1977, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), an anti-bribery law, prohibits the payment of bribes to foreign government officials to obtain business. Multinational companies based in the US are quite aware of the FCPA. But in recent years, US enforcement authorities have made it clear that the FCPA's reach does not end at the US border. Mark Mendelsohn, deputy chief of the fraud section in the criminal division of the Department of Justice (DoJ), stated: "People are going to jail because of these kinds of things.

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  • October 10, 2007 |

    LG expands into Middle East market with Dubai launch

    LG is set to open its second office outside the UK with a launch in Dubai, relocating construction partner James Foster to the region.

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  • October 3, 2007 | International Edition

    Gibson Dunn becomes latest firm to open in Dubai

    Gibson Dunn & Crutcher is to become the latest firm to launch in Dubai after announcing its plans to open in the region before the end of 2007. The West Coast US firm will open its new office in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) with Washington tax partner Peter Baumbusch relocating to oversee the launch.

    1 minute read