Middle East

Dentons launches new shared services hub in Poland, will lay off about 25 in UK

Dentons will eliminate approximately 25 jobs in the United Kingdom in preparation for the opening of its new shared-services hub in Warsaw, Poland. The hub, which officially launched on Monday, will cover the United Kingdom, the Middle East and Africa and Europe. The firm announced that its new Warsaw operation…

Nov 22, 2016 1:35 PM CST

Lawyers are among the dead in suicide bombing outside Pakistan courthouse

At least 12 people died, including four lawyers, in a suicide bombing on Friday outside a courthouse in Pakistan. A suicide bomber threw a grenade at the entrance to the courthouse in Mardan and then blew himself up, report the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and the Wall Street…

Sep 2, 2016 8:47 AM CDT

Clifford Chance replaces Saudi Arabia office with new local alliance

Clifford Chance has taken the unusual step of replacing its office in Saudi Arabia in favor of an alliance with local firm, Abuhimed Alsheikh Alhagbani Law Firm. Legal Week reported Monday that the move came in the midst of an investigation by Saudi authorities into Clifford Chance’s previous licensing arrangement…

Aug 23, 2016 5:07 PM CDT

ABA condemns mass detentions and arrests of Turkish legal community

In the wake of a failed coup attempt by the Turkish military, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrested about 3,000 lawyers, judges and journalists in the country without charges or access to counsel. On Tuesday morning, the ABA’s House of Delegates condemned any state’s detention of people without charge or…

Aug 9, 2016 3:32 PM CDT

Lawyers apparently targeted in Pakistan hospital attack that killed more than 60

More than 60 people died in a suicide bombing on Monday at a hospital in Pakistan where lawyers had gathered to mourn a slain colleague. The director of the hospital in Quetta said most of those who died were lawyers, the Washington Post and the Associated Press report. Nearly 100…

Aug 8, 2016 9:01 AM CDT

Mayer Brown sets up first Dubai office

Mayer Brown has opened an office in Dubai to serve as the hub of its Middle East practice. On Wednesday, the firm announced in a press release that its Dubai outpost was officially open for business. The office marks Mayer Brown’s entry into the Middle East, and will be located…

Jun 23, 2016 10:00 AM CDT

George Clooney lookalike in video ad sparks legal battle between coffee competitors

A disclaimer on an Israeli Espresso Club video ad featuring a George Clooney lookalike tells viewers he’s not the famous Hollywood actor. However, Nespresso, which uses the real George Clooney in its own advertising for coffee and related products, has sued over the spoof. A Haaretz story provides links to…

Jan 21, 2016 12:55 PM CST

Was comparison of Turkish president to Gollum an illegal insult? Judge asks expert panel for opinion

A lawyer for a Turkish doctor accused of illegally insulting the country’s president made no headway with a free speech argument. So lawyer Hicran Danisman is pursuing another line of defense for her client, Bilgin Ciftci, the Associated Press reports. She is arguing that there was no insult when Cifti…

Dec 3, 2015 6:15 AM CST

Thousands mourn human rights lawyer killed during a press conference in Turkey

Thousands of people attended a funeral on Sunday for a Kurdish human rights lawyer fatally shot during a press conference in Turkey. Lawyer Tahir Elci had led the Diyarbakir Bar Association, and officials with the group said he was the target of the Saturday attack, the Associated Press reports. Others…

Nov 30, 2015 8:51 AM CST

New court at one of world’s busiest train stations will speed administration of justice

Railway police stand ready to ticket fare-dodgers and others who violate the rules at one of the busiest train stations in the world. But a cumbersome judicial process, compared to the relatively minor nature of the alleged crimes, can be a deterrent to those responsible for issuing and enforcing the…

Nov 18, 2015 4:35 PM CST

DOJ: Hacking schemes ‘breathtaking in size and scope’ targeted 12 companies, got data on 100 million

Expanding charges in a case against two Israeli men and a U.S. citizen, a federal prosecutor on Tuesday unsealed a superseding indictment (PDF) and accused them of playing a role in a sprawling years-long series of hacking schemes that stole personal data for 100 million people and targeted a dozen…

Nov 10, 2015 3:55 PM CST

Allen & Overy, first UK Magic Circle firm to open in Toronto, is closing its office there

Only a year after Allen & Overy became the first of London’s leading corporate law firms to open an office in Toronto, the so-called Magic Circle firm is closing the Canadian outpost. The move follows the announced plan of founding Toronto partner Francois Duquette to take an in-house job at…

Sep 29, 2015 11:35 AM CDT

Businessman donates $10M to establish new Islamic law center at Yale Law School

A Saudi Arabian businessman with an estimated net worth of nearly $20 billion has donated $10 million to Yale Law School to establish an Islamic law center there. “The contemporary challenges of Islamic law are broadly relevant to political events throughout the entire Islamic world and those are developments that…

Sep 14, 2015 7:30 AM CDT

14 years after Sept. 11 attacks, families of victims and others await justice

Fourteen years after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the legal system is still dealing with those alleged to be responsible for the hijacked commercial airlines that crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania. (The fourth plane is thought to have been headed toward…

Sep 11, 2015 12:20 PM CDT

ISIS embraces sex slavery, using contracts and courts to govern the practice

ISIS—also known as the Islamic State group—has embraced sex slavery and is regulating the practice with sales contracts notarized by ISIS-run courts, according to a newspaper investigation. The girls and women who are taken as sex slaves belong to the Yazidi religious minority, the New York Times reports. ISIS not…

Aug 13, 2015 9:09 AM CDT