Europe

Jones Day Plans to Open Office in Amsterdam

Jones Day has announced plans to open an office in Amsterdam next year. It will be headed by Luc Houben, who previously led the Brussels office of the 1,750-attorney law firm, according to Legal Week and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. A law firm press release gives further details. Earlier this year,…

Oct 2, 2012 6:00 PM CDT

Norway Embarks on First Genocide Trial, Rwandan Man Pleads Not Guilty

A Rwandan man is facing trial in Norway on charges he participated in the 1994 genocide in his home country. Sadi Bugingo, who traveled to Norway in 2001 to join family, has pleaded not guilty, the Associated Press reports. But authorities maintain he took part in the killings of 2,000…

Sep 25, 2012 11:15 AM CDT

Reed Smith Forms Strategic Alliance with Athens-Based Firm

Reed Smith announced this week that it’s formed a strategic alliance with Papapolitis & Papapolitis, a 15-lawyer firm based in Athens. The two firms have already been working together for two years, but the formal alliance will enable them to tackle larger projects as Greece confronts structural reforms, according to…

Sep 25, 2012 10:47 AM CDT

More Staff Layoffs in London at Mayer Brown

The London office of Mayer Brown is trimming back staff in a second round of cuts this year. The firm plans to lay off fewer than 20 non-lawyer staff, according to Legal Week. Legal Week reported on an earlier round of layoffs in May, involving about 16 support and legal…

Sep 25, 2012 10:25 AM CDT

Law Firm Partner Ranks Dip in UK, ‘Unproven’ Associates Look Elsewhere

Continuing economic problems, older lawyers putting off retirement and uncertainty about the U.K.’s new “Tesco Law” are reasons cited for a shrinking partner base. The dip in partner levels is the first since the 2008-09 recession, according to the Financial Times. Citing a recent survey by Wilkins Kennedy, the Financial…

Sep 24, 2012 11:28 AM CDT

Woman Seeks Royalties re Botched Volunteer Restoration of Church Masterpiece, Now a Tourist Magnet

An elderly Spanish woman who was threatened with a lawsuit by descendants of an artist whose historic church fresco of Jesus she ruined in a botched effort to restore the face of Christ on the artwork is now seeking royalties. After the modified masterpiece—which is now being called “ecce mono”…

Sep 20, 2012 8:24 PM CDT

Royal Family Wins Initial Round in Lawsuit Over Topless Photos of Sunbathing Duchess of Cambridge

A French court has sided with the British royal family in a lawsuit filed almost immediately following the publication of photos of the topless Duchess of Cambridge sunbathing on a secluded private estate there during a vacation with her husband, Prince William. The French gossip magazine Closer must pay Kate…

Sep 18, 2012 5:25 PM CDT

European Law Firm Field Fisher Waterhouse Opens First US Office in Palo Alto

A European law firm that focuses on technology and intellectual property matters is opening its first United States office in Palo Alto, Calif., this month. However, Field Fisher Waterhouse doesn’t expect to practice locally but simply offer its existing American client base easier access for representation in European matters, the…

Sep 4, 2012 9:24 PM CDT

DLA Piper to Merge with Paris Boutique Frieh Bouhenic

DLA Piper is expanding its Paris presence through a merger with French law firm Frieh Bouhenic. DLA Piper will have more than 30 partners and 40 other lawyers in Paris after the merger on Oct. 1, report Legal Week and the Wall Street Journal Law Blog. “The firm’s new Paris…

Aug 29, 2012 4:22 PM CDT

UK Mulls Revoking Immunity After Ecuador Allows Assange to Remain in London Embassy

Ecuador says it will allow WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who faces extradition to Sweden, to remain indefinitely under its humanitarian protection. Assange has been in the embassy for two months already and the recent development heightens what’s turned into a tense confrontation between Ecuador and the British government, the New…

Aug 16, 2012 10:07 AM CDT

UK Insurers Mull Taking Work In-House and Setting Up Their Own Law Firms as Latest Cost-Cutting Move

After a change ushered in with the United Kingdom’s Legal Services Act allowing nonattorneys to have an ownership interest in law firms, a number of insurance companies are planning to either bring legal work in-house or set up their own law firms as a cost-cutting move, a study has found.…

Aug 15, 2012 5:13 PM CDT

British Bank Agrees to $340M Deal to Settle Laundering Claim

British bank Standard Chartered has struck a deal to pay $340 million to New York’s top banking regulator to settle claims that it laundered billions of dollars for Iran and lied to regulators. The New York Times reports that the agreement is a victory the 10-month-old New York Department of…

Aug 15, 2012 12:05 PM CDT

Well-Known UK Law Firm Launches Low-Cost Paralegal Team

A well-known commercial law firm headquartered in Scotland has launched a new “firm within a firm” paralegal initiative intended to provide clients with a cost-efficient alternative to using attorneys for work such as basic due diligence, document review, filings, registrations and searches. The new Dundas & Wilson Legal Servivces Unit…

Jul 19, 2012 4:18 PM CDT

Apple Ordered to Say on Its UK Site, in British Papers That Samsung Didn’t Copy iPad; Appeal Planned

Unhappy about the prospect of having to post material on its own United Kingdom website and in newspapers there saying that a competitor didn’t copy its iPad design, Apple Inc. is planning to appeal a British judge’s ruling that imposes the penalty, for a six-month period, in a copyright infringement…

Jul 18, 2012 7:48 PM CDT

UK Solicitor Shot at Desk in Law Office Is In Critical Condition

An unusual attack on a lawyer working at his desk in a British market town left other residents stunned and solicitor James Ward, who was shot in the head and airlifted to a Bristol hospital, in critical condition fighting for his life. A 62-year-old builder who lost an expensive case…

Jul 5, 2012 4:30 PM CDT