Client care is a buzzword that is thrown around among partners from the smallest firms to the magic circle, encompassing every a… read more
Law firms have become highly accomplished at telling clients what they need from their external advisers, and spend incredible amounts of money and time producing brochures, websites, seminars, briefings and newsletters, as part of their commitment to client care.… read more
When you walk into an Italian courtroom you might face many differences in the behaviour of legal actors compared, for instance, with a French court or one in Georgia. There might be professional, lay or even temporary judges sitting behind the bench. Also, the right to receive legal aid and the amount granted differs greatly from one European country to another. Sometimes the state offers a high financial contribution, other times a relatively small amount or even nothing. In highly ‘automated’ societies citizens, legal professionals or legal entities might have the possibility to communicate with courts via the internet or by means of electronic data exchange, while in other countries communication tools are limited to the use of telephone or postal services. Of course, languages, legal cultures and court proceedings are also diverse. … read more
The year 2007 has been a good one for the majority of firms in Europe across most markets. A transactional boom driven by private equity and property carried on from 2006 and helped many firms boost revenue and profits, and for some the first eight months of the year were so good that even the recent credit crunch could not dent their positive results. … read more
Everyone’s talking about market cycles as senior Canadian lawyers digest the impact of the global credit crunch – the epicentre of which was, of course, in the closely-wedded US economy just across the border. “So much of what happens in the US has a direct impact here,” notes McMillan Binch Mendelsohn chairman Bill Rowley QC, while McCarthy Tétrault chair and CEO W Iain Scott points out: “If the US goes into a recession that will have a huge impact for us on the M&A side; the focus of activity for lawyers will shift to insolvency and restructuring – that’s the business cycle.”… read more
Last year, we noted that independent Czech firms were doing a great job cornering the mid-size client market – allowing local players to prosper while the globals appear to have stagnated due to their reliance on a small number of big ticket clients in Prague. However, a surprising effect of this close relationship with the mid-size companies, especially Czech ones, is that local firms are heading abroad in greater numbers – choosing to follow these fast-growing clients into new markets or even speculatively opening abroad in the hope of winning foreign work. … read more
Spanish lawyers have had some years to get used to competing with UK firms on their home turf. However, there is now a new wave of globals arriving in the shape of highly internationally-focused US firms.… read more
Recent surveys have confirmed that, across European markets, billing targets, salaries and benefits vary little from one law firm to the next. As a result, recruiting the best candidates has become far more difficult and requires investing significantly more in each new recruit, often including considerably higher wages.… read more
Ever since the enactment of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in 1977, critics have suggested that the statute essentially enables the US to impose its standards of business conduct on non-US companies, thereby anointing itself the world’s anti-corruption and business practices policeman. Prior to 1997, this was not true, and it is only partially true since the statute was amended to conform to the requirements of the OECD Convention. What is clear, however, is that the current statute and enforcement policies of the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) now pose an enforcement risk to non-US companies far greater than ever before. … read more
The international compliance clamp-down
International companies should no longer question whether Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries will adopt a tougher anti-corruption enforcement posture – collectively they are tougher than ever before, and this is still only the beginning. The question now is how to survive this sea-change in global anti-corruption enforcement. … read more
‘To PPP or not to PPP?’ The European question
Trying to describe ‘trends in the European PPP market’ is a bit of a misnomer. Europe is not one ‘market’ for PPP, with countries all neatly going at a corresponding speed or in the same direction in terms of new greenfield project development. Each are at different levels of maturity. … read more
Microsoft’s transatlantic backwash
Even critics of the decision of the Court of First Instance in the Microsoft case will have to admit that the 248-page judgment by the European Union’s second-highest court has one virtue – unintended, but a virtue nevertheless. When the court, led by its then-about-to-retire President, Bo Vesterdorf, ruled in favour of the European Commission on most points, it set off a much-needed discussion of policy questions that in the end will be more important than his decision to have Microsoft part with a fine of €497 million ($690 million) – ballooned to €2 billion with additional fines and penalties – in payment for abusing its dominant position in the market for desktop operating systems, and to require the company to provide technical information about its Windows operating system to rivals, which it has finally decided to do, rather than appeal the court ruling. Microsoft’s decision to comply with the EC order may at last bring this case to an end, but the issues it raises live on.… read more
As a result of a review of the firm’s strategic direction, DLA Nordic is to adopt a new name and visual identity, and will with immediate effect be known as Horten. The re-named entity’s former status as a member of the DLA Piper Group will change to that of a preferred firm, for the avoidance of conflict of interests in the development of additional practice areas which Horten intends to explore. … read more
Squire Sanders & Dempsey advised Central and Southeastern Europe-based independent investment bank Wood & Company and its shareholders on the sale of a 50 per cent stake in the bank to Iceland’s Straumur-Burðarás Investment Bank hf for an undisclosed sum. Straumur has the option to acquire 100 per cent of Wood & Company in 2008. Mara Babin was lead partner on the transaction.… read more
It would take a brave person to bet on when the Belgians will finally get a new government. Since a general election more than five months ago, the country has been gripped by political impasse, and talks to form a centre-right government are fueling predictions that the country’s wealthy Flemish north and poorer Francophone south could split. … read more
Gide Loyrette Nouel’s senior partner Gérard Tavernier is handing over the hot-seat role of senior partner after eight years leading the international firm. He is now stepping down from this position on December 31st and will be leaving the firm in very good shape. Partner Pierre Raoul-Duval is his elected successor.… read more
When the Community Designs Regulation (the ‘Regulation’) came into effect five years ago, it introduced for the first time an EU-wide unitary form of protection for novel designs. The right has the potential to strengthen the hand of innovative designers throughout Europe – but as with any new law has been subject to serious uncertainty pending proper guidance from the courts as to how it is to be applied in practice. Although there has been case law as to the requirements for valid registration of designs, there has been no published decision on how to go about analysing what will or will not infringe.… read more
The European Court of Justice recently handed down a decision that will affect an entire generation of workers in their senior years.… read more
Lawyers consider retiring or re-firing
The American Bar Association at its August 2007 annual meeting recommended that law firms end mandatory retirement policies and encouraged them to evaluate their older partners on the basis of individual performance. This came only months after an April 2007 recommendation of the New York State Bar Association which separately adopted a similar position. “We do not suggest that partnership is, or should be, a guarantee of life tenure,” states the New York Bar’s report, “and we are well aware of the economics of law firm practice and the need for senior partners to pass on client responsibilities to younger partners.” … read more
The meeting in London on 3-6 October at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane was especially unusual for the ABA this year. Not just as it was held outside the US, nor because it was one of the best attended such gatherings for some time, but rather as the keynote speaker was Britain’s Lord Chief Justice instead of an American. … read more
Perched on the edge of the Malayan peninsula, Singapore was the appropriate setting for the IBA’s annual conference this year given the continuing growth of Asian markets and rebalancing of trade towards the Indo-Pacific region. Globalisation dominated the showcase debates with analysis of how well the international profession is dealing with cross-cultural issues when doing business.… read more
Linklaters’ Düsseldorf deviation
Linklaters is no doubt hoping that dramatically closing its full-service office in Cologne in favour of opening a heavyweight M&A/corporate boutique in Düsseldorf will draw a line under a long period of disgruntlement and personnel departures in a key under-performing element of its German operations. The Düsseldorf office is to be headed up by two well-connected ex-Freshfields corporate partners whose acquisition catalysed the move and gives Linklaters’ corporate practice more weight. … read more
Cyprus is similar to most European countries in that it has an open economy dominated by private enterprise. Government intervention is largely limited to safeguarding the system and providing guidance. By European standards, the economic growth rate has been high, averaging 5.1 percent over the 1961-2003 period, along with full employment conditions and internal and external macroeconomic stability. … read more
The legal factor in the investment climate
Never before has the production sector of Russia’s economy seen such high investment growth as nowadays. In particular, according to the June World Bank report, during the first quarter of 2007, the inflow of direct foreign investments into the Russian economy reached the record figure of 9.8 billion US dollars, which is indicative of a real investment boom.… read more
Broadcasting rights over Spanish football: a match played off the pitch
Spanish football fans are more nervous than usual this season. Apart from the tension inherent in the domestic championships themselves, an additional element of anxiety is concerning the fans each weekend. This preoccupation is caused by the uncertainty over the broadcasting of the matches of each round, which is the direct consequence of a legal battle between Sogecable and Mediapro, two major media groups active in Spain. … read more
Significant changes to the regime governing companies in Spain
Last June the Spanish Cabinet gave its approval to the first reading of the Report of the Minister of Justice on the Draft Bill of Structural Modifications of Companies (“The Draft Bill”) which will include significant changes relating to matters such as change of company form, merger, split, global asset and liability transfer, as well as international change of the registered address.… read more
Aviation lessons to be learned?
It is well known among legal practitioners that the aviation industry is among the most heavily regulated. The vast amount of international and domestic laws, decrees, regulations and other pieces of legislation, coupled with the high degree of technicality associated with them, leads to think that there is little room for subjective decisions. One recent case in Spain seems to suggest otherwise, though.… read more
Even before ending, 2007 was fruitful pertaining to the pinpoint and discussion of several incompatibility matters of the Portuguese tax legal framework regarding the EU’s in a wide variety of matters such as income taxes, VAT or stamp duties.… read more
Investment funds: a ‘transparent’ entity for non-resident investors
The LegislationAn investment Fund, as is well known, is a pool of assets, represented by units pertaining to a plurality of investors and managed on their behalf and in their interest by a special-purpose company (SGR), namely a “savings management company” (the Management Company).… read more
Next to its scenery, fresh air, efficient infrastructure, stability and location at the heart of Europe, Switzerland boasts a famously favourable tax climate. That is true in general and especially for foreign individuals who do not intend to pursue gainful activity in Switzerland. In addition, Switzerland has recently enacted the Hague Convention on the recognition of trusts and, further, adopted guidelines on their taxation.… read more
Basel II – increased cost implications for borrowers
Basel II is the second of the Basel Accords and is set to be implemented in the EU, and elsewhere, in the near future. The purpose of the Accord is for banks to set up an internal risk assessment and capital management system designed to ensure that a bank holds capital reserves appropriate to the risk the bank exposes itself to through its lending and investment practices.… read more
Swiss Limited Partnerships – an attractive structuring alternative for private equity in Europe
On January 1, 2007 the new Swiss Federal Act on Collective Capital Investments (CCIA) and the corresponding Ordinance of the Federal Council (CCIO) came into effect, which introduces new attractive ways of structuring collective investments in Switzerland such as the Investment Firm with Variable Capital (SICAV), the Limited Partnership for Collective Investments (LPCI) and the Investment Firm with Fixed Capital (SICAF). The new law is a modern, forward-looking legislation which also incorporates certain elements of the EU Undertakings for Collective Investment of Transferable Securities (UCITS), allowing some assimilation to EU standards, while being subject to supervision of the Swiss Banking Commission (SBC), granting Swiss reliability and transparency.… read more
When lending money is an abuse
Spanish insolvency law has recently undergone a profound reform culminating in the enactment of Act 22/2003 of 9 July 2003. In the light of the fact that the previous insolvency law was in force since the 19th century, with just one significant reform in the 1920s, one can understand all the excitement the new creature has spread in the legal community and the profusion of essays, discussions and analyses proliferating on all imaginable aspects of the new law.… read more
New Spanish regulations on takeover bids
The approval of Act 6/2007 of 12 April, providing for the reform of the rules on takeover bids and on the transparency of issuers, and the approval of Royal Decree 1066/2007 of 27 July on the rules applicable to takeover bids, further developing such Act, is one of the major developments in Spanish commercial law in recent years. The effect of both legal provisions is to incorporate Directive 2004/25/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 on takeover bids in Spain, thus concluding, albeit incompletely, the process begun over a decade ago to put in place consistent rules of the game on takeover bids in Member States of the European Union. The term “incompletely” is used because, in order to secure approval, Directive 2004/25/EC had to relinquish a good portion of the ambitious goals reflected in its first drafts, contenting itself with being a “de minimis directive” that allows Member States to adopt positions that are protective of their national companies, provided they observe certain basic conditions.… read more
'Made in Italy' labelling: an open debate
The rules concerning the country of origin marking on goods have been the source of great confusion among manufacturers and distributors in this era of globalization of trade and de-localization of manufacturing. A number of rules and regulations regarding this field have been issued at various levels and a varied body of case law has developed in Italy in an attempt to interpret the applicable rules.… read more
The judgment in the Akzo case, which failed to offer the certainty that many of the in-house community were hoping for, was on the verge of appeal as the European Lawyer went to press, with in-house lawyers’ groups likely to pile in with interventions encouraging the Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice to reconsider the case.… read more
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