The Legal 500

Joanne Clement will be speaking at The Public Law Project Wales Conference 2012 on 4th April 2012.
This is the fourth annual PLP conference in Wales which this year will be opening by John Wotton, President of the Law Society. The programme includes plenary sessions on The top ten judicial review cases in Wales, Litigating the cuts, and The tribunal system in Wales as well as a panel discussion on Public law in a future Wales. Seminar topics include:

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On 15 June 2011, a one-day seminar entitled ‘Optimisation of employment costs in respect of employees and managers’ was held in Warsaw. The seminar was organised by the Conference and Workshop Department of Rzeczpospolita (the Polish daily newpaper). WKB acted as content partner.  

Carey Olsen’s strategic approach to human resources (HR) has been praised at the UK national HR Distinction Awards 2012, which were held in Birmingham on 24 January, when the Channel Islands law firm was awarded the prize for Distinction in Added Value.

DCC Energy has agreed to acquire the Swedish company Swea Energi Holding AB from Viviann and Lennart Hansson for an initial purchase price of SEK 205 million. Completion of the acquisition is conditional on competition approval from the European Commission.

Mannheimer Swartling is pleased to announce its participation in a scholarship programme that will allow three Chinese law students to participate in The Master of International Commercial Arbitration Law programme (ICAL) at Stockholm University. Mannheimer Swartling is joined by Swedish law firms, Gernandt & Danielsson and Vinge, in donating the scholarships.

BCCC has the great pleasure to announce two new partners, Stéphanie Fuld and Thomas Goossens, as of January 1st, 2012:

Our special counsel, Hiroya Ito, and our partner, Yuichiro Nukada was involved as the exclusive expert from Japan in the Round Table feature on Real Estate, which was published in the January 2012 issue of Corporate Intl.

The lawyers of AstapovLawyers International Law Group have successfully protected the interests of Do It Yourself Ukraine LLC, a company operating a hypermarket chain under the brand OBI, in the Kyiv Commercial Court.

article by The Asian Lawyer

Lidings, the leading Russian law firm, dedicated to advising foreign companies on all aspects of Russian law uses its expertise to develop strong aviation practice oriented to support international airlines in Russia.

AstapovLawyers International Law Group successfully protected the interests of a major Swiss vegetable oils trader in FOSFA arbitration proceedings.

The Consort Group has acquired a hotel property out of receivership. The property is located in Berlin’s historic city centre and the four star hotel will continue to be operated by the Accor Group.

Ljubljana/Vienna, 9 February 2012 – WOLF THEISS advised the private equity fund H.I.G. Europe Capital Partners and Green Building Group GmbH on their investment to acquire the Slovenian market-leader in the prefabricated housing market, Lumar IG d.o.o.

RBS Chief Stephen Hester was offered a bonus of £963,000 on top of his annual £1.2million salary. We own an 82% share in this bank. Compare this to a family whose son was injured at birth, and finally 20 years later receives a £3.35m settlement payment to cover an injury that will last his life time.

Carey Olsen's strategic approach to human resources (HR) has been praised at the UK national HR Distinction Awards 2012, which were held in Birmingham on 24 January, when the Channel Islands law firm was awarded the prize for Distinction in Added Value.

Delphi advised property-company Diligentia in the work with the appealed plans for refurbishment of the Mörby shopping mall.

Michel has decided to leave BCCC to set-up his own law firm. In agreement with the Partners, he will leave the firm during the first semester of 2012. We thank him for his commitment to BCCC and wish him the best for his future endeavors.

The Sixth Swedish National Pension Fund (Sixth AP Fund) and the other shareholders have sold their holding in Xelerated to Marvell.

The Hague, February 2012 – As of February 1, 2012 Joost Fanoy has joined BarentsKrans' Antitrust & Public Procurement Practice Group as a senior associate.

From 1 January this year, Delphi gets a new managing partner for Linköping and Norrköping. Oscar Brandin has been with Delphi since 1999 and succeeds Christopher Bona who is stepping down after six years as managing partner.

Bindmans partner, Mike Schwarz, gives interview to Big Issue in advance of Institute of Employment Rights talks in Liverpool and London.

The case of a severely-disabled 57-year-old man who wants a judge to allow a doctor to “lawfully” end his life reached the High Court on Monday.

Bindmans client Francis Firebrace is one of Australia’s most original indigenous storytellers and an Aboriginal Elder.

More than 90 trust and insolvency practitioners received a master class in various insolvency scenarios relating to Guernsey trusts at a breakfast seminar run by Carey Olsen on Wednesday 18 January at St Pierre Park Hotel.

agri-food groups Agrial and Elle & Vire on October 10, 2011

Further to a detailed investigation process, the French Competition Authority ultimately authorized, in phase I, the merger between the cooperative groups AGRIAL and ELLE & VIRE, both specializing in the agri-food sector. 

Schaeffler AG, a renowned supplier of the automotive industry and the world's leading supplier of mounting rolling bearings and linear products, has concluded a new loan agreement of € 8 billion with a bank syndicate comprising BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, JP Morgan, LBBW, Royal Bank of Scotland and UniCredit.

Having completed the New York Marathon Chris Pitaluga and Yvonne Chu-Feetham raised £18,000 for charity - he has donated to RICC £10,000, to Pathway Through Pain £5,000 and to Cancer Relief £3,000. He presented the cheques to the representatives from the various charities (all in the picture).

London and South East law firm Penningtons Solicitors LLP is pleased to announce that it has recruited John Hargreaves to head its healthcare team. John joins Penningtons as a partner from Stephenson Harwood, where he had led the health and care group for the past five years. He will be based at Penningtons' City office.

Nichola Carter, partner and head of immigration at Penningtons Solicitors LLP, was one of the speakers at the Westminster Higher Education Forum on 2 February. The seminar was an opportunity to assess the role of UK universities in a rapidly changing global market for higher education. Nichola discussed the student immigration system including current Government policy and ways in which the UK's reputation as an international centre of education can be improved.

The firms advised NEPI in the most important office deal outside Bucharest

Bucharest, Romania – February 6, 2012 – Reff & Associates, the correspondent law firm of Deloitte Romania, acted as legal counsel, while Colliers International acted as real estate advisor, to New Europe Property Investments plc (“NEPI”) in the acquisition of the class A office complex Business City Center, located in Timisoara. 

Battersea Power Station was at the centre of a rare application to Jersey’s Royal Court in December 2011.

The Jersey court has agreed to request that four Jersey companies, which were the key borrowing entities involved in the planned redevelopment of the Battersea Power Station site, be put into administration by the High Court of England and Wales. 

Ketenci&Ketenci have been advising a Hungarian-based IT company in respect to the application and administrative processes before the Turkish Authorities

In the Asialaw Profiles 2012, a publication of Asia Law & Practice that is affiliated with Euromoney, Kim & Chang was ranked as the top firm in Korea in the following 9 practice areas: Banking & Finance, Corporate/M&A, Construction & Real Estate, Dispute Resolution, Intellectual Property, IT, Telco & Media, Labour & Employment, Shipping Maritime & Aviation and Tax.

For the second time, Hengeler Mueller has been ranked as one of the leading 20 law firms in the world for antitrust and competition law by the renowned UK publisher Global Competition Review (GCR), thereby becoming a number of the "Global Elite".

In the 2012 edition of IFLR 1000, a Euromoney publication, Kim & Chang was recognized as a top-tier law firm for all five practice areas surveyed: capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, competition, banking and project finance, and restructuring and insolvency. Kim & Chang is the only law firm in Korea to receive a top ranking in all surveyed areas.

Arendt & Medernach

Camille Bourke is a partner in the investment funds practice of Arendt & Medernach. She specialises in the legal and regulatory aspects of private equity funds structuring, as well as in corporate law issues arising out of private equity transactions.

Hengeler Mueller has advised HeidelbergCement AG on the extension of its € 3 billion cash and letter of credit facility provided by an international bank syndicate until 31 December 2015.

On January 27, 2012 Lekkerland Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG, belonging to Lekkerland Group, has sold all shares in Convenience Concept GmbH to Valora Retail Convenience GmbH, a subsidiary of stock-listed Valora Holding AG headquartered in Switzerland.

On January 31, 2012 ThyssenKrupp announced a transaction combining TK's stainless steel business Inoxum with the Finnish stainless steel producer Outokumpu. In May 2011 ThyssenKrupp had published its intentions to carve out their Stainless Global division and to pursue an IPO, a spin-off or a sale of the divison.

“2012 Cross Border Law Firm of the Year in Cyprus” for the third consecutive year.

Carey Olsen has announced the appointment of two new partners in its Jersey office. Daniel O’Connor and Peter German join the busy corporate, finance and investment funds group which is one of the strongest in Jersey.

Ketenci&Ketenci represented Turkish corporate clients before the International Court of Arbitration in London.

Carey Olsen is urging Guernsey residents to ensure their wills accurately reflect their wishes to avoid uncertainty or potential challenges being made after their death.

AstapovLawyers successfully represented a major Polish supplier of energy saving substances Paroc Polska Sp. z o.o. in a dispute with its Moldovan consignee.

Carey Olsen is playing a significant role in assisting Guernsey's pensions industry to respond to the proposed changes from Her Majesty´s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Schemes (QROPS) and is confident that Guernsey will continue to be an attractive jurisdiction for the establishment of QROPS.

Mr Yiango George Yiangoullis has recently left our team to pursue a position with the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Cyprus to Geneva as an Attaché dealing with matters of Intellectual Property Law at WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization). We wish him the best with his new appointment.

On January 31, 2012, STADA Arzneimittel AG, a German pharmaceutical company listed on the Frankfurt stock exchange, with headquarters in Bad Vilbel, successfully closed the acquisition of the generics business that has previously been spun off of the Swiss based Spirig Pharma AG. The purchase price amounts to approximately CHF 97 million.

The partners of FKA Furtek Komosa Aleksandrowicz are delighted to announce that they have taken on a new partner Edyta Jusiel

The UK Bribery Act 2010, which came into force last year, impacts on both individuals and companies based overseas, prosecuting for acts of bribery which have taken place outside, as well as within, the UK. Scott Simmons, Associate at Hassans, will be speaking at seminars to be held in March on the implications of the Act and its reach beyond UK borders to the rest of the world.