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  • July 27, 2011 |

    Supreme Court Star Wars battle sees key copyright ruling handed down

    The Supreme Court has delivered a mixed ruling in the battle between George Lucas's movie empire and a UK prop designer over the sale of the iconic Stormtrooper helmets from the Star Wars films. The Court held that while Lucasfilm can enforce a US copyright in the UK, the Stormtrooper helmets sold were functional, rather than works of art, and therefore the defendant did not breach copyright laws.

    1 minute read

  • July 25, 2011 |

    Freshfields hit with £142m London Underground negligence claim

    Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has been hit with a £141.96m negligence claim relating to advice it gave London Underground Ltd (LUL) in 2002. The claim was issued by LUL in the High Court in January this year and relates to advice the magic circle firm gave the company on its 2003 public-private partnership (PPP) with collapsed transport company Metronet.

    1 minute read

  • July 11, 2011 |

    Davis Polk signs up Mayer Brown partner duo for Brazil launch

    Davis Polk & Wardwell has hired two partners from Mayer Brown, as the New York firm gears up to launch in Brazil. Banking and finance partners James Vickers and Stephen Hood are set to join Davis Polk in the coming months to help launch the firm's Sao Paulo office, with the departures leaving Mayer Brown with just one partner in Brazil, securities lawyer Ricardo Gonzalez.

    1 minute read

  • July 6, 2011 |

    Disruption as usual - Google's legal staff takes law where it hasn't gone before

    Win or lose, Google's staff is taking the law and legal departments where they haven't gone before. David Hechler reports

    1 minute read

  • July 6, 2011 |

    Disruption as usual - on the 'bleeding edge' at Google with the world's fastest-moving legal team

    Spend time with the 
energetic crew at Google, and the word "disrupt" comes up a lot. Google's businesses tend to do that to the traditional marketplace, and Googlers (as they call themselves) make no apologies. In fact, they use the word with pride – sounding like 1960s protesters determined to shake the establishment. The company's lawyers often find themselves in the thick of it – before, during, and after "disruptions". And you might expect them to sound a little upset, since they have to deal with the sometimes messy consequences. But they, too, seem to relish rattling the barricades.

    1 minute read

  • July 1, 2011 |

    Elite US trio added to Barclays panel after review of bank's advisers

    Barclays has added three US firms to its general advisory panel, following a comprehensive panel review intended to increase value for money from the bank's regular advisers. Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Shearman & Sterling and Sullivan & Cromwell have been added to the bank's main general advisory panel after Barclays decided to include the creation of a US sub-division for the first time.

    1 minute read

  • June 30, 2011 |

    Mayer Brown expands in Asia with Singapore office launch

    Mayer Brown is launching in Singapore with the relocation of Hong Kong projects partner Kevin Owen to head up the new office. The new base will be Mayer Brown's eighth presence in Asia following its 2008 tie-up with Johnson Stokes & Master (JSM). Mayer Brown JSM already operates offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Ho Chi Min City, Hanoi and Bangkok. The Singpore base will focus initially on asset finance, project finance, energy and international arbitration.

    1 minute read

  • June 29, 2011 |

    City lawyers size up US-style success fees – but concern grows over legal aid cuts

    City law firms are assessing the prospects for using damage-based billing arrangements (DBAs) for complex litigation following the Government's near-wholesale adoption of the Jackson reforms included in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill last week. The bill, which fell in line with previous consultations, is expected to see City law firms experiment with DBAs for high value disputes as demand for alternative billing methods increases.

    1 minute read

  • June 29, 2011 |

    Mayer Brown seals hire of Nabarro IP partner for London base

    Mayer Brown has added a partner to its London intellectual property (IP) team with the hire of Jonathan Radcliffe from Nabarro. Radcliffe, who will join the US firm on 1 August, has expertise in patent and IP litigation, having acted on disputes in the pharmaceutical, life sciences and high-tech sectors. He joined Nabarro in 2005 from rival UK top 30 law firm Field Fisher Waterhouse.

    1 minute read

  • June 21, 2011 |

    Government confirms Jackson civil litigation reforms and legal aid cuts

    The Government's plans for drastic legal aid cuts have been confirmed today by Justice Secretary Ken Clarke, alongside wholesale backing of the Jackson reforms of civil litigation costs. The plans were unveiled today (21 June) in the new Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, with the Government ploughing ahead with previously laid-out cuts in a bid to significantly reduce its £2.1bn annual legal aid bill.

    1 minute read