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  • April 4, 2007 |

    Bakers builds in Japan with seven-partner haul

    Baker & McKenzie has boosted its Japanese operation with a seven-partner team hire from domestic firm Asahi Koma Law Offices and a linked operation. The US-based firm has hired name partner Fumio Koma with a team of lawyers from Asahi Koma and its foreign-law practice, which for regulatory reasons operated in a joint venture with Asahi.

    1 minute read

  • March 28, 2007 |

    Dutch law firms aim to boost gender equality

    A slew of firms in the Netherlands, including Baker & McKenzie, Loyens & Loeff and De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, have launched a diversity initiative to promote the retention of female lawyers. Female partners in the jurisdiction will mentor other female lawyers, with a view to helping them achieve partner status. The Dutch Bar Association has offered its backing to the initiative, which aims to redress the imbalance in the number of male and female partners in the Netherlands.

    1 minute read

  • March 28, 2007 |

    Middle East and India: Highway to a new world

    According to a taxi driver in Dubai, the only old thing left in the emirate is the sea. It is a common observation, but an outsider could not hope for a more telling insight into the degree of commercial activity in the region. Not surprisingly, that expansion has been mirrored in the legal sector where foreign law firms that have opened up offices in the past three years now significantly outnumber the old hands.

    1 minute read

  • March 28, 2007 |

    Middle East and India: Shifting sands

    With high levels of liquidity in the marketplace, investors within Saudi Arabia have the resources and an increasing desire to break away from their traditional oil-based industries to a more diversified portfolio. For many years their only option was to invest overseas but, increasingly, Saudi Arabian investors are looking for domestic investment opportunities. Sectors of particular interest and growth include banking, telecommunications and the media.

    1 minute read

  • March 28, 2007 |

    Legal Developments: Vietnam: Join the club

    WTO membership heralds Vietnamese liberalisation in an increasingly market-oriented economy Vietnam joined the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on 11 January, 2007, signalling a major step towards a more market-oriented economy. In the 880-page Working Party Report, Vietnam undertakes to implement a series of measures to liberalise its trade regime and privatise state-owned enterprises, and also to comply fully with WTO rules regarding trade-related aspects of intellectual property (TRIPS), technical barriers to trade and sanitary and phytosanitary measures agreements without restriction.

    1 minute read

  • March 22, 2007 |

    Reid Minty takes international plunge in Kiev

    West End commercial outfit Reid Minty has opened its first international office after launching in the Ukraine, it was announced today (22 March). The new Kiev branch will be staffed by lawyers based in the firm's London hub, with the firm planning to relocate fee earners there permanently only if work-flow demands it.

    1 minute read

  • March 15, 2007 | International Edition

    Travers ties up NCP sale for 3i

    Travers Smith has bagged a lead advisory role for 3i, acting for the UK private equity house on its £790m sale of National Car Parks (NCP) to Macquarie. The deal, which was agreed yesterday (14 March), saw Travers advise 3i on the sale, fielding a heavyweight team under private equity partner Phil Sanderson and practice head and 3i relationship partner Chris Hale. Banking partner Andrew Gregson and tax partner Victoria Nicholl also advised on the deal.

    1 minute read

  • March 15, 2007 |

    Travers ties up NCP sale for 3i

    Travers Smith has bagged a lead advisory role for 3i, acting for the UK private equity house on its £790m sale of National Car Parks (NCP) to Macquarie. The deal, which was agreed yesterday (14 March), saw Travers advise 3i on the sale, fielding a heavyweight team under private equity partner Phil Sanderson and practice head and 3i relationship partner Chris Hale. Banking partner Andrew Gregson and tax partner Victoria Nicholl also advised on the deal.

    1 minute read

  • March 14, 2007 |

    Deals: Property 15/03/2007

    Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw has advised global energy advisory firm Tristone Capital on the acquisition of a lease for its new European headquarters at 77 Grosvenor Street, London, for an undisclosed sum. Real estate partner James Dodsworth led the team advising Tristone, which took the lease from Norwich Union Life & Pensions, which was represented in-house.

    1 minute read

  • March 7, 2007 |

    Under-fire Jenkens faces closure as majority of offices join rivals

    Embattled US firm Jenkens & Gilchrist is facing possible dissolution, it emerged last week, with the vast majority of the Dallas outfit's offices already set to join rival firms. As revealed by legalweek.com (27 February), the firm is currently in discussions over its future, with management hoping to resolve the matter by the end of this month.

    1 minute read