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Corporate Counsel

Foreign ATS Plaintiffs May Have to Exhaust Local Remedies

A case that will signal how easy it will be for plaintiffs to hold companies civilly responsible in the United States for alleged complicity in human rights and environmental abuses that foreign governments have committed abroad.
15 minute read

Corporate Counsel

Alien Allegations

Jury clears Chevron of responsibility in Nigerian security operation.
6 minute read

Corporate Counsel

Court Imposes 1-to-1 Punitive Damages Ration

The 3rd Circuit follows the lead of the Supreme Court, establishing a 1-to-1 ratio between compensatory and punitive damages.
5 minute read

Corporate Counsel

Exemption Expansion

New protocol eliminates cumbersome withholding tax provisions in U.S.-Canada transactions.
12 minute read

International Edition

Brick Court quartet among 104 to take silk

Barristers at a number of leading chambers have received silk status in the latest round of QC appointments announced today (19 February). Brick Court Chambers saw four of its members - Alan Maclean, Fergus Randolph, Aidan Robertson and Mark Hoskins - receive the accolade, while One Essex Court's David Wolfson, Daniel Toledano and Alain Choo-Choy all claimed the elite kitemark.Fountain Court, Blackstone Chambers and Four Pump Court each saw two barristers gain QC status.However, top set Essex Court only saw one member - Christopher Smith - take silk, as did a number of other top sets including 3 Verulam Buildings, 11 Stone Buildings and 7 King's Bench Walk.
2 minute read

International Edition

New QC appointments round sees 104 take silk

The latest round of QC appointments has been announced today (19 February), with more than a hundred barristers claiming the elite kitemark. One hundred and four out of a total of 247 applicants have been awarded QC status, a success rate of 42% - a significant increase on the 2007-08 figure of 29%.However, the total of 247 applications received by the QC selection panel was a sharp drop from last year's total of 333 and a further drop from the 443 applicants in 2006-07.
3 minute read

International Edition

Commercial and Chancery Bar: Benchmarking the bench

It is now 18 months since the idea of judicial appraisals for senior commercial judges first hit the headlines. By the end of 2009, initial findings from the first round of appraisals should be complete. The process is likely to cover all High Court judges in the Commercial Court and Chancery Division, plus masters. Based on the ratings and opinions of court users - litigants, solicitors and barristers - individual appraisals will be distributed exclusively to each judge with a copy sent to the head of the relevant division. It seems possible that judges' league tables will also be made publicly available. A Legal Week survey conducted in 2007 of more than 100 senior litigators showed strong support for the idea: 43% of respondents said they would definitely endorse the introduction of upward appraisals for judges, with a further 41% indicating they might do so.
9 minute read

International Edition

Commercial and Chancery Bar: Together as one

The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has given the question of how the Legal Services Act (LSA) will affect it in the future extensive consideration and consultation. The reality is that the consequences of this significant statute simply cannot yet be known, although it is clear it facilitates a potentially fundamental change in the way in which legal services will be provided to consumers in England and Wales. The Act represents both uncertainty and opportunity for all those it affects. The BSB has recently issued a consultation paper seeking views on the implications of the LSA, in order that future regulation is informed, as far as is possible, by the realities of practice and in the interests of the consumer, as well as clarifying the uncertainty and permitting the potential to be realised.
8 minute read

International Edition

Commercial and Chancery Bar: Frosty reception

Late last year, the Ministry of Justice announced figures which surprised and worried litigators.The numbers of claim forms filed over the previous year indicated that disputes started had stayed largely static despite the deteriorating economic climate.All lawyers should be concerned by this development because traditionally in the good times transactional work drives law firm profits. As the deal flow dries up, contentious practitioners had previously come into their own and picked up the profits per equity partner (PEP) slack.
6 minute read

Inside Counsel

Facebook Reverts to Old Terms of Service

After a massive outcry, the social networking site reverted to its old Terms of Service agreement regarding rights to posted data.
3 minute read

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