The tax arm of accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers has suffered a blow with the exit of Brussels partner Philippe Lion to Baker & McKenzie. It is understood that the regulatory climate post Sarbanes-Oxley was a factor in Lion’s decision to leave the accounting firm. Commenting on his departure, the former PwC tax director said: “Auditors independence […]
The new media and communications industry regulator Ofcom has appointed its top three lawyers. Denton Wilde Sapte’s head of EC and UK competition Polly Weitzman has been appointed director of competition law and will be Ofcom’s most senior in-house lawyer. Graham Howell, the former company secretary and general counsel of HMV, has been appointed secretary […]
Linklaters has moved to shore up its German competition and EU law practice following the departure of group head Dirk Schroeder for Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton (first reported in The Lawyer, Monday 3 November). The magic circle firm has announced that Wolfgang Deselaers will replace Schroeder. Although he is currently based in Brussels, Deselaers […]
Weil Gotshal & Manges’ London office is losing one of its three securitisation partners. Christian Smith is moving to Spain, but will not be joining another law firm on his arrival. He is moving for lifestyle reasons. Smith’s departure will leave the London securitisation group with head Jacky Kelly and partner Steven Ong, who was […]
German firm Beiten Burkhardt Goerdeler has scooped a licence from the Chinese Ministry of Justice to open a second office on the mainland. Beiten Burkhardt, which already has offices in Hong Kong and Beijing, expects to have its new Shanghai office operational within the next two weeks. The launch will make Beiten Burkhardt the only […]
Six months of navel gazing have produced the following startling conclusion at Taylor Wessing: change nothing. Well, as they might say, if it ain’t broke, etc. But Taylor Wessing has got itself into a bit of a bind with its tech-firm branding. What was a lovely little USP four years ago has hampered the firm’s […]
Clyde & Co has lost professional indemnity and product liability partner Angela Horne to north-west firm Hill Dickinson. Horne was recently involved in a successful House of Lords appeal, on behalf of two members of the bar in the case of Medcalf v Mardell. During her time at Clydes she has also represented Dr Marietta […]
New York’s Pennie & Edmonds has returned to its original suitor Jones Day in its third attempt to secure a merger. It is understood that Jones Day has extended a formal agreement to Pennie partners though, at this stage, it is not known what percentage of the firm’s equity will plump for the move. Pennie, […]
Appeal judges recently ruled that probate solicitors could bill according to the value of the estate they are administering, as opposed to their hourly rate. The case, Jemma Trust co v. Liptrott & Others, concerned Bolton law firm Kippax Beaumont Lewis, which was involved in the administration of a £10m estate. The firm had charged […]
Software companies look set to be hit by new copyright rules that came into force this month, as ministers ducked resolving what has become known as the ‘Microsoft Word problem’. The Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003 which implement Directive 2001/29 bolster the efforts of copyright holders to protect their intellectual property rights and extend […]
A lack of court resources was hindering access to justice, according to a survey of solicitors published last week. Nearly four out of 10 solicitors responding to a Law Society survey said that inefficient administration in court offices made an appreciable impact on their clients’ cases. This year’s Woolf Questionnaire, dealing with the impact of […]
A loophole that allows fathers to avoid heavy maintenance payments was closed last week, when a single mother won an appeal that could force the Child Support Agency (CSA) to reopen up to 50,000 assessments. Helen Smith, a part-time office administrator, had her child support for her three children increased under the ruling from 11.29 […]