The creation of a Community Patent Court with EU jurisdiction has been formally proposed by the European Commission in its bid to harmonise and simplify EU intellectual property protection. If ministers approve the idea, it could ultimately end the current system whereby national and European patents are challenged in national courts, which sometimes leads to […]
Ciba Specialty Chemicals has recruited the European general counsel of Eastman Kodak to head its legal function in its Basle head office in Switzerland. Thomas Koch joins Ciba as its new head of law and environment and as secretary to the board. He replaces Hans-Ulrich Müller, who is retiring. Müller joined Ciba in 1990. Ciba […]
Herbert Smith has founded a US corporate finance capability in its Hong Kong office. The move is intended to take advantage of the new wave of privatisations and initial public offerings (IPOs) that are expected in the Chinese market this year. As part of the move, Herbert Smith has relocated of counsel Kevin Roy and associate Zhou […]
Herbert Smith’s Hong Kong office has scooped an instruction to act for China Construction Bank in what could be the largest initial public offering (IPO) seen in the global equities market this year. Herbert Smith beat several firms, understood to include all those in the magic circle, to win the lucrative mandate to advise China […]
Stikeman Elliot was last week barred from defending Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) against accusations of violating trading rules because of a conflict of interest. Market Regulation Serv-ices (RS) asked a regulatory panel to remove Stikeman as it had previously advised the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE) on the creation of RS. The hearing concerned allegations […]
Steel Hector & Davis has defended its conduct after being slammed by US District Judge Alan Gold in relation to perceived conflicts arising out of its involvement in a controversial $92.3m (£48.8m) payment to top executives of utility company FPL Group. The Miami giant was appointed by a committee created by FPL’s board in the […]
The Belgian office of Morgan Lewis & Bockius has poached White & Case Ger-man antitrust partner Gerrit Schohe to boost its Brussels competition platform. Since the departure of the former head of the European Commission cartels unit Julian Joshua, the firm has had just one Brussels antitrust lawyer, Izzet Sinan. Joshua, who joined in 2000, […]
The Financial Services Authority’s decision last December to fine Abbey a record £2m for slack money laundering checks highlights a common problem that affects the legal profession. UK law firms represent thousands of clients every day, a percentage of which are likely to have engaged in illegal financial dealings. Blind trust could potentially lead to […]
There are more than a few lawyers who have given up the profession in favour of deal-making in the tough world of corporate finance. But at Milton Keynes’ firm Kimbells, the lawyers get to combine commercial with legal in a way that might persuade many a would-be businessman, perhaps even entrepreneur, to keep that practising […]
Wragges wards off Treasury Solicitor for Napster address” />Wragge & Co has secured a crucial domain name victory for new client Roxio, the owner of the outlawed former file-sharing system Napster. When Roxio realised it had a problem with Napster’s UK domain name it turned to Wragges. After being appointed to look into who held […]
Lawrence Graham has called on its Paris-based best friend Lafarge Flecheux Campana Le Blevennec to act on Wilmington Group’s first major deal outside the UK, the acquisition of Agence de Presse Medicale Internationale (APM) from Reuters. Both Lawrence Graham and Lafarge are acting on the £5.3m acquisition of the French real-time health newswire. Although Lawrence […]
Following a minor role on Wella’s sale to Procter & Gamble last year, Allen & Overy (A&O) has become one of the company’s main advisers.A&O is advising Wella on a global licensing agreement with Procter & Gamble concerning Wella’s retail business as well as other concerns.“It’s an extremely close relationship. Over the last six months, […]