The Polish government has moved to allow private money a much larger input into public projects. Tom Phillips asks whether PPPs are the answer to the country’s economic woes With the real estate market at a standstill and only small M&A transactions taking place, Polish law firms are welcoming the arrival of new PPP legislation. […]
Norton Rose is quite the darling of the legal world since it mooted plans to put all its staff – partners included – on a four-day week as a way of saving jobs (TheLawyer.com, 13 March). Readers of TheLawyer.com were almost unanimous in voicing their support for the scheme, as the column opposite shows. But […]
As a country with few natural resources, China has always had to look abroad for investment. Margaret Taylor reports on the Sino-African special relationship Cash-rich China’s interest in resource-rich Africa has grown enormously over the past 20 years, with Chinese companies investing in everything from mining to infrastructure projects. In recent years China’s focus has […]
Austria’s government is now spending e100bn on saving the country’s failing banks. Tom Phillips investigates After rebuilding eight former Communist nations that joined the EU in 2004, the banks of Austria are now fighting to stay afloat. How one of the world’s most secure banking communities found itself with loans of around e201bn (£185.87bn) – […]
The Czech Republic’s presidency of the EU has allowed it to promote itself as a thoroughly forward-thinking European nation. It has also helped push through vital register legislation. Tom Phillips reports Currently basking in the reflective glory of the EU presidency, the Czech Republic is making full use of its time in the spotlight. The […]
Regional: Central & Eastern Europe Lawyers in Central and Eastern European countries are facing some particularly unique issues as their host nations try to pull themselves clear of the recession. The first of the these special reports from the region visits law firms in Hungary, which find themselves competing for the lucrative attention of the […]
Being an in-house lawyer can throw up some surprising situations – just ask ITV general counsel Andrew Garard Fergie’s turkey . When the Duchess of York filmed a documentary about homes for abandoned children in Turkey last year (come on, that’s not so strange: Ross Kemp does gangs after all and he’s soap royalty), […]
Shazanna Safdar-Karim is rapidly climbing the ranks at FTSE Group. Tom Phillips reports It is an acronym that has barely moved off the front pages over the past year. When the world of stock markets became the number one story, FTSE and its various leagues of stocks and bonds became the number one measurement of […]
With the shadow of redundancy looming over the legal sector, many lawyers are facing the prospect of taking prolonged and unplanned career breaks. As redundancies continue to sweep through the City, large numbers of lawyers are having to cope with unemployment for the first time since leaving university. For most this is a daunting task. […]
What was your first-ever job? Cleaning boats on the Norfolk Broads. My first self-employed job was as an ice-cream salesman. What was your worst experience as a trainee? In the conveyancing department I successfully completed on a house purchase, but failed to complete on the corresponding sale. For a couple of days my client was […]
Move of the week Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has appointed partner Nigel Blackaby as head of the firm’s US arbitration group. Blackaby recently relocated to the US from Paris and will be responsible for managing and developing the arbitration group’s New York and Washington DC presences, which consist of partners Lucy Reed, Brian King and Alex […]
No longer the glam drink ticket, Mipim may be changing its spots – and about time too, says Catrin Griffiths It sounds as if lawyers are putting a brave face on it. For years, the Mipim festival in Cannes – the biggest property event in Europe – has attracted developers, funders, surveyors and lawyers in […]