Asia

Manhattan Work at Mumbai Prices

Inside India’s hottest legal outsourcing team

Oct 1, 2007 8:43 PM CDT

Lawmaker: Feds Didn’t Spot Cyber-Attack

Saying that the Department of Homeland Security didn’t notice for months that its computer system had been attacked by hackers, a Congressman who works closely with the department is now seeking a new government investigation—and blaming the contractor in charge of the system for lax oversight. Meanwhile, the FBI reportedly…

Sep 24, 2007 7:12 PM CDT

Weil to Add 2 Asia Offices; Tokyo Next?

Corrected: Two New York City-based corporate partners of Weil Gotshal & Manges are moving to Hong Kong to open a new firm office there, and the firm also plans a Beijing presence. Partners Akiko Mikumo and Peter Feist, along with Shanghai partner David Meredith and two associates, will establish the…

Sep 6, 2007 8:06 PM CDT

Philippines Abortions: Illegal, Yet Done

Abortions are illegal in the Philippines, but that doesn’t prevent women from having an estimated 500,000 annually. Some 80,000 reportedly are treated in hospitals each year for complications from induced abortions, and another 800 die. Methods commonly used include a “massage” by a midwife or ingesting a concoction of drugs,…

Sep 5, 2007 3:29 PM CDT

Lovells’ China Alliance a ‘Genuine First’

London-based Lovells has formed an alliance with nine Chinese law firms to provide joint legal services. The new Sino-Global Legal Alliance is “a genuine first,” Lovells’ Asia regional managing partner, Crispin Rapinet, said in a press release. Lawyers will work together in cross-alliance legal teams based on practice areas. Lovells…

Sep 5, 2007 1:04 PM CDT

LeBoeuf Opens in Hong Kong

The law firm soon to be known as Dewey & LeBoeuf is opening a Hong Kong office. LeBoeuf Lamb Greene & MacRae had planned to open the office before it began merger talks with Dewey Ballantine, Legal Week reports. Dewey closed its Hong Kong office in 2003. The new office…

Sep 5, 2007 11:20 AM CDT

Jones Day Snares Hong Kong IP Lawyers

Jones Day has hired four intellectual property lawyers for its Hong Kong office from Baker & McKenzie’s office in the same city. They are Peggy Cheung, Anita Leung, Chiang Ling Li and Helen Tang, the National Law Journal reports. Tang will have of-counsel status, and the others will be partners.…

Aug 31, 2007 10:21 AM CDT

India to Open Door to Foreign Law Firms?

The government of India and attorneys throughout the country reportedly are considering a proposal to make it easier for foreign law firms to establish a presence there. Under possible legislation being discussed by bar groups throughout India, foreign law firms could establish a limited liability partnership in the country so…

Aug 29, 2007 12:09 AM CDT

Japanese Justice System May Change

Criticized for its almost 100 percent conviction rate, Japan’s legal system is in need of an overhaul, many believe. Among the critics is the country’s bar association, which condemned the execution of three inmates last week and called for a death penalty moratorium until the fairness of the justice system…

Aug 27, 2007 9:52 PM CDT

New Norm: Sending Legal Work Abroad

Once upon a time, U.S.-based corporations routinely hired American law firms to do virtually all of their legal work. But today, using cheap foreign lawyers—or even American lawyers in lower-paid parts of the country—to do routine tasks such as document review and conducting due diligence on merger partners is becoming…

Aug 21, 2007 3:31 PM CDT

Lawyer Helps Free Ex-Classmate

A lawyer from DLA Piper in Washington, D.C., has helped free a former Harvard classmate from a Chinese prison. Jared Genser works on behalf of imprisoned dissidents through a boutique law firm he founded called Freedom Now, American Lawyer reports. Thanks in large part to his efforts, the man who…

Aug 21, 2007 12:11 PM CDT

Jail a Risk for Vietnam Investors

Investors hoping to make big money in Vietnam face risks, not the least of which is jail. That’s the lesson learned by American businessman Hoan Nguyen, who sat in a Hanoi prison for 14 months while police investigated a business dispute with his government partners, the Wall Street Journal (sub.…

Aug 14, 2007 4:10 PM CDT

A Bitter Japanese Poison Pill

Japan’s Supreme Court has affirmed a company’s right to mount a poison-pill defense to a corporate takeover. The court ruled for Bull-Dog Sauce Co. in a suit by a hedge fund trying take over the company, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports. In poison-pill plans, the targeted company makes…

Aug 8, 2007 3:53 PM CDT

China Now Regulates Reincarnation

As of Sept. 1, Tibet’s exiled god-king, the Dalai Lama, may no longer reincarnate himself—or recognize the reincarnation of others—without permission from China’s communist, atheist government. That is one key provision of new regulations developed by China’s State Administration for Religious Affairs, in an effort to limit the influence of…

Aug 3, 2007 9:29 PM CDT

Pakistan Prez, Top Judge Reconciling?

Four months after he sought to remove Pakistan’s top judge from the bench, the country’s president is now trying to get back on his good side. After a July 20 decision by the Pakistan Supreme Court that Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry had been improperly suspended in March and must…

Aug 1, 2007 6:31 PM CDT