International

More Thelen Lawyers Decamp to Pillsbury

After picking up all of the approximately 20 lawyers in Thelen’s China office late last month, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman has signed on a partner and counsel in Washington, D.C. from the San Francisco-based firm’s construction litigation and international dispute practices. Michael Jaffe, formerly chairman of the international arbitration and…

Oct 3, 2008 12:09 PM CDT

New Top Lawyer for Bank of England

As the credit crunch hammers the UK’s financial system, the Bank of England has named Graham Nicholson, a mergers and acquisitions partner at London’s Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, as its in-house chief legal adviser. He is part of a team at the firm advising the bank on the nationalization of mortgage…

Oct 3, 2008 10:43 AM CDT

UK Firms Earn Top Three Spots for Revenue in Global 100

English law firms have an advantage in the American Lawyer’s Global 100 because of profits from their international expansions. Some firms in the United Kingdom are earning more profits from their international offices than from their London bases, the American Lawyer reports. They include Allen & Overy, which is sixth…

Oct 2, 2008 12:04 PM CDT

Canadian Judge Castigates Pathologist; Money Pledged to Wrongfully Convicted

Officials in Ontario, Canada, promised compensation to wrongfully convicted criminal defendants today after a judge commissioned by the government to investigate a pediatric pathologist castigated Dr. Charles Smith in a written report. Despite being proclaimed as a leading expert, Smith actually knew little, had sloppy work practices and rarely visited…

Oct 1, 2008 8:40 PM CDT

After Big Lottery Win, 18-Year-Old Still Plans Legal Career

She no longer has any need for the income that a legal career will bring. But 18-year-old Ianthe Fullagar is still planning to pursue a law degree, after a holiday in Egypt. And, says the United Kingdom teen, the $12.5 million or so (in U.S. dollars) that she just won…

Sep 30, 2008 11:22 PM CDT

Double Trouble for Italian Attorney & Unlicensed Twin

Overwhelmed with work in her law practice and part-time position as a substitute judge, a 54-year-old Italian attorney allegedly exercised an option that isn’t available to most of her colleagues: She apparently sent her twin to cover her defense caseload when she was called in to work as a judge…

Sep 30, 2008 9:39 PM CDT

Sniper Kills Prisoner at French Jail

In a murder that the London Times describes as akin to a scene from a crime thriller film, a sniper shot and killed a prisoner at a French jail from a hillside outside the facility as the victim reportedly was about to be interrogated concerning a murder case. “French Justice…

Sep 29, 2008 11:43 PM CDT

Thelen’s Entire 20-Lawyer China Office Defects to Pillsbury Winthrop

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman has reportedly raided Thelen’s office in China of all 20 or so of its lawyers. The group, which includes partners Lou Bevilacqua, Tom Shoesmith, Joe Tiano and Meg Utterback, is being split between Pillsbury offices in Shanghai, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., reports a Pillsbury press…

Sep 29, 2008 6:26 PM CDT

Japanese Businessman Faces US Trial in Alleged Conspiracy to Murder Wife

A Japanese businessman who is fighting a court battle on two fronts to avoid being tried on charges related to the 1981 murder of his wife has seemingly lost another round. Although Kazuyoshi Miura “was cleared of his wife’s killing by a court in Japan in 1998 following a marathon…

Sep 29, 2008 4:53 PM CDT

Iraq Prime Minister Said to Oust Judge to Ensure Saddam Death Sentence

Fearing that Saddam Hussein would not receive a death sentence at his trial, Iraq’s prime minister forced one of five judges presiding in his case to resign only days before sentencing, a Canadian lawyer told the New York Times. According to the lawyer’s version of events, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal…

Sep 25, 2008 5:33 PM CDT

Willkie Raids Fried Frank’s Frankfurt Office, Plans to Triple German Troops

Willkie Farr & Gallagher has lured a capital markets star from the Frankfurt, Germany, office of Fried Frank, as part of a growth plan that reportedly could triple the New York City-based firm’s German practice within the next few years. Michael Schlitt, who currently heads the German capital markets practice…

Sep 23, 2008 8:10 PM CDT

‘Stolen Lives’: Mom’s Search for Abducted Adult Daughter

For more than six years, Susana Trimarco has been searching for her daughter, Marita Veron, in a saga that has taken her to seamy areas amidst potentially dangerous people. Then 23, the young woman left home on April 3, 2002 for a doctor’s appointment, telling her mother she would be…

Sep 22, 2008 7:58 PM CDT

Tort Suits Claim Chinese Chairs are Toxic

Sitting in an armchair or lying on a sofa isn’t ordinarily considered a hazardous activity. But for well over 1,000 people in several European countries, it allegedly was. After the Chinese manufacturer of furniture distributed by a French company put extra packets of a chemical mold retardant, customers began reporting…

Sep 19, 2008 6:50 PM CDT

Islamic Court Rulings are Enforceable in the United Kingdom

Islamic law now has legal effect in the United Kingdom, under a 1996 arbitration statute that recognizes the rulings of a network of five Shariah courts. Although there was a huge public outcry earlier this year when the Archbishop of Canterbury said that further recognition of such courts in Great…

Sep 19, 2008 5:55 PM CDT

Did a Short-Selling Conspiracy Spark the Stock Market Debacle?

Short-selling of a bank’s stock isn’t illegal. But when investors who are betting that a company’s share price will fall fuel the stock’s downslide with false rumors about the company, that can be a different story. So the New York’s attorney general announced today that he is launching an investigation…

Sep 18, 2008 8:26 PM CDT