Latest legal news

Big Four accountant Ernst & Young is to pay US$10m over its role as auditor to Lehman Brothers, the bank which failed in 2008 - and, for the time being at least, it looks likely to remain the only adviser to take a penalty from the regulators. | 11yrs

In what may be a sign of things to come, an entire office is making a mass 'lateral hire' move - as the full team of partners, other lawyers and staff shift to Dentons, impressed by the expansion of its global network into China and the US. | 11yrs

Baker & McKenzie has finally broken the barrier which prohibited foreign law firms from practising Chinese law - by winning a licence which allows it to offer local advice through a joint venture with a Chinese firm in Shanghai. | 11yrs

The Canadian 380-lawyer firm Bennett Jones is to work in association with a firm of the same name set up in Bermuda by a former senior commercial partner of the Canadian practice. | 11yrs

Speaking at a Harvard Law School day on law firms ethics in a time of economic pressure, Bruce Kuhlik has asked law firms to strengthen their cultures in order to retain lawyers and avoid the pay inflation of lateral hire spirals. | 11yrs

A weekly round-up of moves around the globe. | 11yrs

In-house lawyers are being stretched by two conflicting parts of their role - the objective need to measure risk and the more subjective need to be commercial - to the extent that many are failing to stay firmly within their ethical obligations. | 11yrs

The 740-lawyer US firm Polsinelli has taken its network to 21 offices by launching in North Carolina and Nashville over the last two months, opening each new office with a healthcare team. | 11yrs

The US remains the 'centre of activity' while the life science sector has soared to new levels, according to Allen & Overy's latest M&A Insights report which also refers to a 'significant number of truly transformational M&A deals announced' in Q1. | 11yrs

The US bank reporting season is underway - with JP Morgan posting a 12 per cent rise in net income despite provisioning another hefty sum against legal and regulatory costs. | 11yrs

Peter Gray, the Dubai-based partner who has been suspended by Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, saw his application to appeal against a ruling that he deliberately misled the court dismissed in 15 minutes yesterday. | 11yrs

The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) has called for the protection of privileged communications related to internal investigations. | 11yrs

The Italian firm joins forces once more with ex-Clifford Chance banking partner Michael Bray who brought the firm into the Clifford Chance fold over 20 years ago. | 11yrs

A Toronto-based lawyer who acted for a Rwanda general on war crimes charges says he is 'very worried' by reports claiming he is on a hit list. | 11yrs

The fatal shooting of Oshyn Hinton on Sunday night, with the subsequent arrest of his son on a murder charge, brings to three the number of lawyers killed in York County, South Carolina in recent years - all, allegedly, by loved ones. | 11yrs

Legal technicians have been given the right to become owners of law firms in one of the most pro-technician states in the US - although they will not be able to supervise the work of lawyers or direct the professional judgement of lawyers. | 11yrs

Chair Brad Karp has defended his firm's use of lockstep, rather than an 'eat what you kill' partner pay system, arguing that the profession has become overly fixated with short-term financial gain since American Lawyer began publishing revenues. | 11yrs

Freshfields may be asked to decide where its heart is as its former heads of corporate and disputes are expected to contest each other in the election of a new senior partner. | 11yrs

The 34-year old stroke Caryn Davies - who got a JD from Columbia University - is being given the credit for securing the win against Cambridge, the first time women were allowed to use the same course as men since the boat race started in 1829. | 11yrs