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International Edition

Commercial and Chancery Bar: The law of the game

An interview on a TV chat show in 1981 produced legendary Liverpool manager Bill Shankly's famous quote: "Someone said 'football is more important than life and death to you' and I said 'Listen, it's more important than that'." Few will deny the importance of football in the national psyche. But football is now no longer purely a sport. It is an enormous business, with well-known Premiership clubs receiving and spending vast sums of money. The aspiration of every club in each league is to be promoted to the league above; and the dread of every club is the prospect of relegation to the league below. League position determines a club's profitability, as well as its corporate value. To some extent, we are now in a new age where, for the first time, commercial interests threaten to distract the game of football. It was largely because of the onset of the age of professionalism in 1885 that football became a disorganised mess, with games being called off because clubs had arranged more lucrative games elsewhere. It was in this climate (and to bring order to the game) that the Football League was founded, in the Anderton's Hotel in Fleet Street on 22 March, 1888, the brainchild of William McGregor.
8 minute read

International Edition

Commercial and Chancery Bar: Centre point

In an article entitled 'Starting from Scratch' on 29 March, 2007, Legal Week reported on the ambitious plans for the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and its Court. In the subsequent year the world's leading financial institutions have continued to pour into the centre and the list of law firms with a presence in the DIFC now include Akin Gump, Allen & Overy, Al Tamimi & Co, Ashurst, Clifford Chance, Conyers Dill & Pearman, Denton Wilde Sapte, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters, Lovells, Maples and Calder, Norton Rose, Reed Smith Richards Butler, Simmons & Simmons and Walkers. In addition, the UK law firms Kennedys and Clyde & Co, which are based in greater Dubai, have also been active in the DIFC Court. It is notable that in January the International Bar Association (IBA) established its Middle East office in the DIFC. The opening of the office was timed to correspond with the IBA's Arab regional forum's conference on Islamic finance in the Middle East. The DIFC has set its sights on becoming the world centre for Islamic finance and is itself an active investor. In June 2007, DIFC Investments listed a $1.25bn (£630m) sukuk on the Dubai International Financial Exchange, taking the total value of sukuk listed on the exchange to $10.43bn (£5.26bn) - the highest of any exchange worldwide. The DIFC has also been an active investor in international markets and acquired a 2.2% stake in Deutsche Bank, which, according to publicly-available market data, makes it the largest external strategic shareholder in the international investment bank.
7 minute read

International Edition

Pomp and circumspect

Just when you thought the QC application process had finally been sorted (or maybe you knew better all along), it turns out the lucky winners have yet more hoops to hop through before they can ratchet up those hourly rates. Successful applicants will still get to dress up for their official ceremony in March - but instead of then proceeding to see the judges that gave them references they will have to wait... because the courts are not sitting on the day of the ceremony.
1 minute read

Corporate Counsel

Proxy Push

An inside look at the issues shareholders are proposing in 2008
1 minute read

Corporate Counsel

Walgreens Race Bias Case Moves Forward

Eric Simple, an African-American, worked for several years at a Walgreens store in Normal, Ill., as a management trainee and as an assistant manager. His ...
5 minute read

Corporate Counsel

Social Nightmare

To read about how Web 2.0 sites are influencing in-house counsel, click here.E-mail, instant messaging and even voicemail have become likely targets for e-discovery requests. ...
3 minute read

Corporate Counsel

Aggressive Attitude

Creators of open source software take the offensive against copyright infringers.
6 minute read

Corporate Counsel

Genesco Speaks

Genesco Inc.'s GC discusses his company's troubled deal with Foot Locker, the economy and the company's New York trial.
4 minute read

Corporate Counsel

Pricing Puzzle

Manufacturers left perplexed about resale agreements in the wake of Leegin.
6 minute read

Corporate Counsel

Virtual Knockoffs

Companies cope with counterfeit goods for sale in Second Life.
6 minute read

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