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International Edition

Editor's comment: Passage to India

When a law firm does it, heads are turned - but when a company does it, people really sit up and take notice. Microsoft's decision to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Rio Tinto by outsourcing a chunk of its in-house legal work to CPA Global's offshore operation in Delhi has added further momentum to one of the most talked-about trends of the last few years. The additional news that Rio Tinto's managing attorney Leah Cooper, the driving force behind the mining giant's offshore move, is to join CPA, makes it a pretty good news week for the outsourcing leader.
3 minute read

International Edition

CC brings in former Ashurst Asia chief to head up Tokyo corporate

Clifford Chance (CC) has hired former Ashurst partner Alan Kitchin to lead its Tokyo corporate and projects practice. Kitchin, who left Ashurst's London office this month (10 February), will join CC as a partner and is set to relocate to Tokyo in early March. Kitchin was the founding partner of Ashurst's Tokyo office in 1990 and went on to manage the office until 2002.
2 minute read

International Edition

Stephenson Harwood acts on $12bn Hong Kong property empire dispute

Stephenson Harwood has won a role advising on a multibillion-dollar dispute over the estate of one of Asia's richest women. Nina Wang, who died in April 2007, made out a will stating that the estate of her property empire, Chinachem Group, worth an estimated $12bn (£8bn), should go to the Wang family-run charity, the Chinachem Foundation.
2 minute read

International Edition

Japanese insurance giant appoints first Europe GC to lead panel review

Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group has appointed David Casement into the newly-created role of European general counsel. Casement, the former general counsel at Chubb Europe's commercial lines department, joined the Japanese insurance giant last month. He has been charged with building an in-house legal capability as well as forming the company's first legal panel.
2 minute read

International Edition

A&O set to launch in Australia with partner hires: comment and reaction

Allen & Overy (A&O) is set to enter Australia after hiring 17 new partners to open new offices in Sydney and Perth. Fourteen of the partners join from Australian firm Clayton Utz, which announced today (8 February) that the partners had tendered their resignation with the intention of joining the magic circle firm.
7 minute read

International Edition

Taylor Wessing creates new group head role to bolster India practice

Taylor Wessing has appointed its first India group head in a bid to increase its focus on the emerging market. The firm, which already had an India desk but no dedicated leader for the group, said it has taken the step as part of a refreshed strategy to increase its focus on the growing opportunities for business in and out of India.
1 minute read

International Edition

Kirkland advises Japan Airlines on bankruptcy proceedings

Kirkland & Ellis has landed a global mandate advising Japan Airlines (JAL) on its bankruptcy proceedings. The firm is fielding a team from Chicago, London and Hong Kong to advise the airline on one of the country's largest corporate failures.
2 minute read

International Edition

Skadden and Latham land roles on $4bn Japanese telecoms deal

A trio of US firms have taken lead roles on Liberty Global's $4bn (£2.5bn) sell-off of its minority stake in Japan's largest cable company to mobile phone operator KDDI, reports The Am Law Daily. Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom advised Japan's KDDI on the acquisition of Liberty's 38% stake in Jupiter Telecommunications, fielding a team led by Tokyo-based partner Mitsuhiro Kamiya.
2 minute read

International Edition

CC and Latham check in for roles on Singapore airline IPO

Clifford Chance (CC) and Latham & Watkins have taken lead roles as Tiger Airways becomes the first Asian airline to complete an initial public offering (IPO) for five years. The IPO, reportedly the first listing of a low-cost air carrier on the Singapore Exchange, raised a total of S$248m (£109m), with the deal widely viewed as a boost for market confidence.
2 minute read

International Edition

Deal lawyers' mood brightens as 2009 marks bottom of market

Exactly 12 months ago this column suggested that the M&A deal drought of 2009 would be reminiscent of the post-dot com gloom in 2003, and it was true. This year, however, is harder to call. The latest figures from Legal Week's exclusive data provider Mergermarket confirm what all M&A lawyers knew: 2009 was a bleak year for transactional lawyers, with global deal values just shy of $1,800bn (£1,103bn) compared to $2,427bn (£1,488bn) in 2008. The good news is that most signs suggest that the bottom has already been passed, with the final quarter of 2009 managing a modest if fairly broad revival. That revival looks set to trudge into 2010, even if there is little evidence of a dramatic rebound.
4 minute read

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