The Luxembourg and Dutch governments both face court after breaking a deadline to implement EU free establishment directives The member states were supposed to inform the European Commission (EC) by 14 March as to how they had incorporated the law that allows lawyers the right to work across the EU, but neither has done so. […]
The Japan Federation of Bar Associations has passed a protectionist measure designed to penalise Japanese firms in joint ventures with foreign lawyers In the face of protests from foreign law societies, the Japanese legal body has ruled that Japanese-foreign law joint ventures cannot take advantage of limited liability status if they practise under the name […]
Clifford Chance Pünder is losing the co-head of its global China practice following a dispute over the firm’s strategy in Asia Sabine Stricker-Kellerer will leave the firm’s Munich office at the beginning of May, although it is still unclear where she is going.Stricker-Kellerer comes from the Pünder side of the firm and her decision to […]
Local govt places limit on fees; ambiguity concerning foreign firms’ inclusion The Shanghai local government has cast huge uncertainty over global law firms’ China practices by issuing a notice on lawyers’ fees, which sets an upper limit of 3,000 yuan (A$697/£255) per hour.Foreign law firms have not been mentioned explicitly, so it is unclear whether […]
Clifford Chance is appealing an Indian tax tribunal’s decision that it has underpaid on tax It is part of a wide dispute involving other law firms, including Linklaters, and UK tax authorities have been in talks with their Indian counterparts to seek a breakthrough. The Law Society of England and Wales is appealing to the […]
US firm to focus on PFI/PPP in Central and Eastern Europe Altheimer & Gray has launched a 24-lawyer Central and Eastern European projects group as it looks towards opening an office in Serbia.The projects group will focus on PPP and PFI work in the region, and will be led by London partners Anthony Fine, Edward […]
After years of demanding that we all accept that law is now a business rather than an old school tie profession, it seems that firms are finally cracking on to the fact that a business is nothing without its people.Perhaps they have been spurred into action by an unstable world economy, or maybe it is […]
Fladgate Fielder advised Euro & UK Property and the Orb Estates group on the £600m acquisition of 37 Thistle Hotels and the companies that own them, effectively giving the West End firm a new client.Thistle Hotels, advised by David Pudge at Clifford Chance, sold a 37 hotel-package that it will continue to operate under a […]
The Barings and Enron scandals have brought to the fore the functions of company directors, accountants and auditors. Simon Barker asks: what will be the effect on their future roles? Barings and Enron provide spectacular examples of a problem that extends to all jurisdictions in which accountants, or more accurately auditors, play a significant role […]
Tulkinghorn would be the first to agree that the legal profession displays many a saintly, nay godly, characteristic. And it would seem that Eversheds’ head of property Cornelius Medvei is no exception. After arriving at the Majestic hotel for the Mipim fund managers dinner, Medvei was seen quite literally walking on water. However, gasps of […]
Friendly competition is rife at Mipim. But sometimes things get a little out of hand and Tulkinghorn did hear a few cries of foul play. The Lovells crew was most upset when its supply of Lovells-branded chocolate bars failed to arrive this year. One Lovells insider felt sure he had spied the affable Geoffrey Lander […]
If anyone can make a child cry ‘I want to be a tax adviser’, it’s Theodore Goddard senior partner Paddy Grafton Green, the ‘it boy’ of the tax world When Paddy Grafton Green was a very young tax lawyer back in 1971, his principal came in to tell him that he had a client waiting […]