Asia

Allen & Overy Fields New Trial Management Team

One of London’s biggest and best-known law firms has restructured its litigation management team, adding a steering group of international partners and a newly created firmwide general counsel to help the global head of litigation oversee the magic circle firm’s worldwide operations. As part of this change in focus, the…

Jan 23, 2008 5:53 PM CST

Deposed Pakistan Chief Justice Still Under House Arrest

More than 10 weeks after the president of Pakistan suspended the country’s constitution and declared what many considered martial law, the chief justice of the country’s supreme court remains under house arrest with his family. Nearly half of the not quite 100 top judges in Pakistan lost their jobs in…

Jan 19, 2008 12:53 AM CST

Attorney Avatars Create Virtual Bar, Virtual Law & Virtual CLE Courses

In many ways, it looked like a standard bar association meeting. But the woman clad in an orange tutu and thigh-high black stockings offered one clue that the attorneys attending the Oct. 20, 2007 meeting in the Second Life Bar Association’s conference room were actually avatars—animated characters created to represent…

Jan 8, 2008 8:29 PM CST

Boy Injured in China Gets $3.35M Verdict in Mass.

The escalator accident that left a 4-year-old’s hand severely injured, happened in China. But American jurors decided the case, this week awarding $3.35 million after a trial in Massachusetts. In addition to holding the escalator’s Chinese manufacturer liable, a jury in Worcester Superior Court held the U.S.-based Otis Elevator Co.…

Jan 4, 2008 9:37 PM CST

Mayer Brown Merges With Hong Kong Firm

In a move that will boost Mayer Brown’s presence in Asia, Mayer Brown announced Friday that is has agreed to merge with Hong Kong’s venerable banking and finance firm Johnson Stokes & Master. The merger is the firm’s most significant expansion since it combined with London’s Rowe & Maw in…

Dec 21, 2007 6:25 PM CST

China Law Firms Open US Offices

The globalization of law practice is a two-way street, and, just as U.S. law firms are seeking to establish a presence in China, Chinese law firms are looking to set up offices here. Among the Chinese law office leaders planting the law firm flag on American soil are Jun He,…

Dec 19, 2007 7:04 PM CST

Quinn Emanuel Opens Japan Office

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges has acquired a three-lawyer Los Angeles boutique and is sending one of the partners from the new acquisition to Tokyo to launch a new office. The lawyer, Henry Koda, focused his practice on patent and trademark prosecution and international intellectual property litigation for Japanese…

Dec 12, 2007 12:32 PM CST

Foley & Lardner Opens Office in China

Foley & Lardner will expand into China with a Shanghai office led by a partner recruited from Weil, Gotshal & Manges. Partner Catherine Sun jumped to Foley earlier this year from Weil’s Shanghai office, Legal Times reports. Foley’s new office will focus on intellectual property matters, according to a press…

Dec 6, 2007 4:06 PM CST

Former Top Pakistan Judge Blames Country’s Western Allies

Although bar groups throughout the world, including the ABA, have made unprecedented efforts to lobby for the restoration of the rule of law in Pakistan, a deposed Pakistan supreme court judge contends government leaders in Western countries could and should do more. Held under house arrest at his home in…

Dec 5, 2007 11:22 PM CST

ABA President Asks Attorneys to Sign Pakistan Petition

The president of the American Bar Association is calling on fellow attorneys to sign an online petition seeking the restoration of the rule of law in Pakistan. “I urge you not to look aside, as if standing up for the rule of law is somebody else’s job. Add your name,…

Dec 4, 2007 10:22 PM CST

Skadden Partner Dies After Airport Drug Search

A high-profile real estate lawyer from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom collapsed and died at an airport in Australia last week after a drug sniffing dog took an interest in him. Mark Bronson, 44, was a partner in the firm’s Tokyo office, Law.com reports. Sources told the Courier-Mail that…

Dec 4, 2007 12:54 PM CST

Japan Court Orders Comp for Worker Who Died From Overwork

A Japanese court has ordered the government to pay benefits to the widow of a Toyota employee because he died from overwork. The court found that Kenichi Uchino had worked about 106 hours of overtime in the month before he died, the Economic Times reports. Uchino’s wife, Hiroku, had argued…

Nov 30, 2007 6:57 PM CST

Outsourcing Firms Bring in the Engineers to Advise, Write Patents

Much like American law firms have beefed up their IP practices by hiring lawyers with engineering and scientific backgrounds, so too are legal process outsourcing companies in India. The Hindu Business Line reports that outsourcing firms are hiring experienced engineers to analyze new technologies and to write patents. One company…

Nov 26, 2007 9:17 PM CST

Chinese Company Wins Rare Overseas Trademark Ruling

In an unusual example of Chinese company resorting to litigation to enforce its intellectual property abroad, a Beijing curd maker has won a trademark infringement suit against a German company. The win came Nov. 14 when a Munich court ordered the German supermarket Okai to stop using Wangzhihe’s trademark, reports…

Nov 26, 2007 7:19 PM CST

U.K. Lawyers Long for Offices in India

Attorneys at major law firms in the United Kingdom are notably unhappy about their inability to open offices in India, and will continue to press for permission to establish a presence there, a London newspaper says. Eager to work on cross-border deals, London lawyers at big firms long for offices…

Nov 21, 2007 8:39 PM CST