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International Edition

Northern Ireland: Retail therapy

With more than 82,000 jobs, retail is Northern Ireland's largest and fastest-growing private sector with predictions of the creation of a further 12,000 new jobs by 2012 - despite the prevailing credit crunch and faltering house prices. The arrival of the multimillion-pound Victoria Square in March, which followed hot on the heels of Ikea in Belfast, the Bridgewater Outlet Centre in Banbridge and Junction One in Antrim, marked a tipping point in Northern Ireland's retail outlook, dramatically increasing consumer choice and boosting the expectations of significant retailers in Belfast. With this increased investment has come a plethora of opportunities for law firms specialising in the retail sector.
5 minute read

International Edition

Northern Ireland: Building consensus

The challenges of public procurement law have come into sharp focus in recent times in Northern Ireland, as a number of high-profile projects (including public-private partnership projects) have become the subject of judicial scrutiny. Several recent decisions of the Northern Ireland High Court (including those at interlocutory stage) have provided valuable insights into the difficulties awarding authorities can face during the tendering process and also into the thinking of the courts in applying relevant procurement law principles. In Natural World Products v ARC 21, ACR 21, a consortium of public authorities, sought to award a contract for the provision of organic waste services which included the construction of at least one compaction waste facility. The contract was put out to tender and the plaintiff bid accordingly. However, it was unsuccessful and subsequently sought to challenge the decision of the authority on the grounds that it was unlawful and in breach of the Public Service Contracts Regulations 1993 (now superseded by the Public Contracts Regulations 2006, which transpose the Public Sector Directive 2004/18). Central to the authority's decision was its view that it would be inappropriate to take account of one particular waste facility which the plaintiff alleged would be available to it for support in the event that the facility to be constructed might not have been able to cope with the relevant waste tonnages. The High Court held that this was in breach of both the duty to consider fairly the bids of all tenderers in a project and the regulations (which allowed for supplementary information to be provided by bidders in the course of a restricted procedure). The Court set aside the decision to award the contract to the initially announced winner and ordered that the awarding authority return to the plaintiff's bid and complete their evaluation taking into account the supporting facility in question.
8 minute read

International Edition

Northern Ireland: A new dawn

Private finance initiatives (PFI) in Northern Ireland have in recent years enjoyed (or, more accurately, endured) an unhappy depiction in the local media, ranging from economic criticism to unfortunate allusions to wolves in fairy stories. Hyperbolic tales of mismanagement, sharp practice and drains on the public purse have undoubtedly impacted on the public perception of PFI, at a time when the global credit crunch has fixed a keener, more critical eye on the administration of public expenditure. All is not, however, doom and gloom. A closer assessment of the horror stories that the Fourth Estate have seized upon to demonise PFI quite quickly shows that the criticism is unfair. The most high profile example is the Balmoral High School PFI Project which came under fire as the school closed some five years into the concession period. However the reality was that the problem lay not in PFI or profiteering, but rather in a problem in predicting school numbers and the demographic backdrop, a problem which has taxed decision-makers in Northern Ireland since time immemorial, and a problem which would almost certainly have put paid to the prospects of success for the school regardless of which procurement method was chosen. It is a salutary lesson for any public authority that there must be a clear need for a project, whether or not the project is being procured under PFI or a more traditional avenue.
5 minute read

International Edition

Northern Ireland: Plan of action

Northern Ireland's environment minister, Arlene Foster, has announced her intention to bring forward proposals for a wide-ranging reform of the planning system in Northern Ireland and has appointed an expert adviser to provide an independent opinion on what medium to long-term measures are required. Foster said: "I want a planning system that supports and encourages sustainable economic growth, while protecting and enhancing the natural and built-environment."
7 minute read

International Edition

Northern Ireland: Onward and upward

The infrastructure of Northern Ireland is set to be transformed by the Investment Strategy for Northern Ireland 2008-18, published in January this year by the Executive of the Northern Irish Assembly. The Investment Strategy sets out a planned spend approaching £20bn on new infrastructure in Northern Ireland over a 10-year period, approximately £6bn of which will be delivered over the next three years. Funding in the main is from the Northern Ireland Executive, but supplemented by the disposal of public assets and other third-party sources. Other sponsors have set up investment funds, such as the Emerald Infrastructure Development Fund, a private equity fund set up by four New York City pension funds in April 2008, which aims to deliver a £75m investment into infrastructure investment projects in Northern Ireland with a focus on the border areas. This boost to the Northern Irish economy is intended to deliver high-quality public services throughout the region and should provide significant opportunities for sponsors, contractors, funders and their legal, financial and technical advisers.
7 minute read

International Edition

Bakers elects new Paris chief Fabre

Baker & McKenzie has elected a new managing partner for its Paris office, with Regis Fabre stepping into the role from 1 July for a two-year term. The competition partner takes over from previous co-managing partners Denise Broussal and Laurent Epstein.
2 minute read

International Edition

Spanish giant Cuatrecasas in Shanghai move

Spanish giant Cuatrecasas is to open an office in Shanghai, having last week (5 June) received regulatory clearance from the Chinese Government. Omar Puertas, a senior associate who has been based in Shanghai since early 2007 working on the license approval, will manage the new operation, which the firm hopes will make its debut in September.
2 minute read

International Edition

CC litigator seals Siemens in-house move

Telecoms giant Siemens has appointed Clifford Chance (CC) partner Anke Sessler as its new chief counsel of litigation. Sessler will take up her new post on 1 September after spending 10 years as a litigation and dispute resolution partner at CC's Frankfurt office.
2 minute read

International Edition

Linklaters stands firm in face of criticism over CEE office pullout

In the end it may not have been a surprise, but Linklaters' decision to split with four offices across Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) has certainly sparked a debate among senior lawyers in the region. The decision to pull out of Budapest, Bucharest, Bratislava and Prague, which will leave the magic circle law firm with bases in just Moscow and Warsaw, has been met with surprise from rivals.
5 minute read

International Edition

Italy's Pavia makes up five to partnership

Italian law firm Pavia & Ansaldo has made up five new partners - three in Rome and two in Milan. Mario Di Giulio (banking and finance), Alessandra Giordano (labour and social security) and Caterina Luciani (corporate) were promoted in the Rome office along with Michele Mocarelli (corporate) and Andrea Torazzi (antitrust) in Milan. The new appointments take the total partnership to 29.
1 minute read

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