International Law

More than 9,000 Lawyers Boycott Pakistan Courts to Protest Senior Attorney’s Murder

Thousands of lawyers boycotted court proceedings in Pakistan’s major cities today in protest of a senior attorney’s slaying outside his home in Lahore. More than 9,000 attorneys complied with a call by the Supreme Court Bar Association and other lawyer groups to boycott courts throughout the country after the murder…

Jan 11, 2012 12:03 AM CST

10th Circuit Says Federal Judge Got It Right, Correctly Blocked Okla. Voter Ban on Shariah Law

A federal appeals court in Denver today gave a green light to a lawsuit over an Oklahoma voter initiative that approved a state constitutional amendment banning state courts from looking to Islamic religious law in their rulings. Executive director Muneer Awad of the Council on American-Islamic Relations had standing to…

Jan 10, 2012 8:59 PM CST

Davis Polk to Expand London Office Practice with Freshfields Partner, Perhaps Others

Following the lead of several other well-known Wall Street law firms, Davis Polk & Wardwell announced that it is expanding its English law practice at the firm’s office in London. Capital markets specialist Simon Witty of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer will join the London office in April, but it isn’t known…

Jan 9, 2012 10:24 PM CST

New IRS Program Allows Those with Secret Offshore Accounts to Avoid Prosecution

A new Internal Revenue Service program announced today allows individuals who evaded income tax by keeping assets in secret offshore bank accounts to avoid prosecution and pay reduced penalties by voluntarily disclosing their wrongdoing. They will also be required to identify bankers and other advisers who helped them, Bloomberg notes.…

Jan 9, 2012 9:55 PM CST

Polish Prosecutor Shoots Himself After Abruptly Ending a News Conference

A Polish military prosecutor is likely to recover after he abruptly ended a news conference today and then shot himself in the head minutes later while alone in his office. Reporters who heard the gunshot found Mikolaj Przybyl lying in a pool of blood, Reuters and the Associated Press report.…

Jan 9, 2012 3:01 PM CST

In Mexican Probe, DEA Helped Drug Supplier and Trafficker Launder Money

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency helped a Mexican drug trafficker and his Colombian supplier move money in an effort to infiltrate the criminal gangs in Mexico, according to legal documents. DEA agents, working with Mexican police, posed as money launderers to move millions of dollars and even helped escort one…

Jan 9, 2012 1:01 PM CST

Bankers Charged at Oldest Swiss Bank With Hiding $1.2 Billion From U.S. Government

U.S. prosecutors charged employees at Switzerland’s oldest bank this week of scheming with wealthy U.S. taxpayers to hide more than $1.2 billion. Wegelin & Company confirmed the indictment of three of its bankers Wednesday, a day after the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York announced charges…

Jan 4, 2012 6:22 PM CST

15 Firms and Companies Line Up For Outside Investor Licenses In UK

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), the regulatory body for more than 120,000 solicitors in England and Wales, announced it’s in serious talks with 15 law firms and legal departments to adopt outside investor licenses. The SRA accepted its first applications yesterday and expects to hand out licenses by the end…

Jan 4, 2012 3:08 PM CST

Ex-BigLaw Partner Collapses in Court as Judge Warns of Likely Jail Time for Drunk-Driving Case Lies

Things went from bad to worse for a solicitor in a major London law firm after he apparently had a few too many alcoholic drinks and crashed his Range Rover last year. Found later at home by police, where he tested over the limit, Francis Bridgeman said he had been…

Dec 19, 2011 2:36 PM CST

Appellate Brief: Chevron, Counsel Used Unfair Tactics to Try to Force Patton Boggs Off Case

In a brief filed this week with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, a well-known law firm accuses its opposing counsel and a major corporation of using unfair tactics to try to force it to step down from representing the plaintiffs in a multibillion-dollar environmental case, the…

Dec 16, 2011 9:04 PM CST

Afghan Woman Is Pardoned and Freed After Rape Report Put Her in Prison for Adultery

An Afghan woman imprisoned after reporting she had been raped has been released from jail, thanks to intervention by President Hamid Karzai. The woman, who has been identified only as Gulnaz, is staying at a women’s shelter in Kabul, CNN reports. She had been sent to prison for adultery after…

Dec 14, 2011 2:53 PM CST

Crowell & Moring Settles $5.5M Client Suit re Ex-Counsel Awaiting Extradition in Hong Kong

In its first public response to a $5.5 million lawsuit filed by client Regal Real Estate over millions of dollars allegedly stolen by a former Crowell & Moring attorney from an escrow account, the law firm has apologized and announced that a settlement has been reached. “We are pleased to…

Dec 12, 2011 3:17 PM CST

US Citizen Gets 2.5 Years for Translating Yale Press Bio of King Into Thai, While Living in Colo.

Several years ago, while living in Colorado, a U.S. citizen who was born in Thailand translated excerpts of an unauthorized biography of the country’s king, which had been published by Yale University Press, into Thai and posted them on a blog. Now Joe Gordon, a 55-year-old car salesman, is paying…

Dec 8, 2011 11:05 PM CST

Top 10 UK Law Firm Herbert Smith to Open New York Office

One of the top 10 law firms in the United Kingdom plans to open an office in New York within the next year. Herbert Smith will focus its practice there on international arbitration, international investigations and cross-border disputes, Legal Week reports. Although the firm expects to bring in some American…

Dec 7, 2011 8:24 PM CST

More than 9,000 Lawyers Boycott Pakistan Courts to Protest Senior Attorney’s Murder

10th Circuit Says Federal Judge Got It Right, Correctly Blocked Okla. Voter Ban on Shariah Law

Davis Polk to Expand London Office Practice with Freshfields Partner, Perhaps Others

New IRS Program Allows Those with Secret Offshore Accounts to Avoid Prosecution

Polish Prosecutor Shoots Himself After Abruptly Ending a News Conference

In Mexican Probe, DEA Helped Drug Supplier and Trafficker Launder Money

Bankers Charged at Oldest Swiss Bank With Hiding $1.2 Billion From U.S. Government

15 Firms and Companies Line Up For Outside Investor Licenses In UK

Ex-BigLaw Partner Collapses in Court as Judge Warns of Likely Jail Time for Drunk-Driving Case Lies

Appellate Brief: Chevron, Counsel Used Unfair Tactics to Try to Force Patton Boggs Off Case

Afghan Woman Is Pardoned and Freed After Rape Report Put Her in Prison for Adultery

Crowell & Moring Settles $5.5M Client Suit re Ex-Counsel Awaiting Extradition in Hong Kong

US Citizen Gets 2.5 Years for Translating Yale Press Bio of King Into Thai, While Living in Colo.

Top UK Linklaters Firm Plans to Restructure Again; Up to 35 Partners Could Exit or Be De-equitized

Top 10 UK Law Firm Herbert Smith to Open New York Office

Topics: Career & Practice

Gibson Dunn lands 120-lawyer group from Weil Gotshal, including firm's co-managing partner

Your Voice

Is it worth reconsidering retirement?

Podcasts

What happened at Weil Gotshal? Could tech help other firms avoid that fate?