Latest legal news

Only 13 per cent of small businesses believe that lawyers 'provide a cost effective means to resolve legal issues', according to a study of 9,703 such businesses in England and Wales. | 12yrs

Credit Suisse this week became the largest bank since 1999 to plead guilty to a US criminal charge when it agreed to pay US$2.6b in penalties over tax evasion - despite last minute negotiations by its general counsel. | 12yrs

BP has received another court decision against it over the Deepwater Blue 2010 oil spill, seriously limiting its chances of keeping compensation costs below US$7.8b. | 12yrs

A landmark decision has given partners in LLPs whistleblowing protection. | 12yrs

The first woman to hold a general counsel title at a Fortune 500 company has told other general counsel that the they must attend C-suite strategy meetings and ask questions if they are to get ahead. | 12yrs

The legal department at General Motors is coming under increasing focus in the vehicle safety scandal which has been linked to 13 deaths and for which the company agreed last week to pay a US$35m fine. | 12yrs

A weekly round-up of moves across the globe. | 12yrs

A divorce award thought to be the biggest in the world has been handed out in Switzerland, suggesting that the country has taken over from the UK as the forum seen as the most generous. | 12yrs

Partners in Patton Boggs are believed to have voted yesterday, Tuesday, 20 May, on a merger deal with Squire Sanders, with sources saying a positive result is widely expected. | 12yrs

Apple general counsel Bruce Sewell has given law graduates a list of four golden rules to follow, one of which he learned from his deceased boss Steve Jobs. | 12yrs

Associates hired from other firms are 50 per cent more likely to leave for performance reasons than their home-grown colleagues. | 12yrs

Gide partner Arnaud Michel has been appointed President of LES International (Licensing Executives Society) at its international delegates assembly, held in Moscow. | 12yrs

Promising to provide anonymous collaboration, the website claims to be the first private lawyer network. | 12yrs

Malaysia Airlines, whose flight 370 disappeared in March, is involved in a dispute with families of the missing passengers and staff as to whether it 'abandoned' some families to foreign law firms. | 12yrs

The architect firm Gensler has unveiled its design for the law firm of the future - and it includes more open space and individual offices which do not get bigger as the occupants become more senior. | 12yrs

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Herbert Smith Freehills and Slaughter and May have been voted the top three London law firm brands by senior general counsel in 334 UK organisations. | 12yrs

Lawyers in the White House are said to be taking their time in sifting through correspondence related to the 2003 Iraq invasion even though they have been asked to deliver them to the UK's inquiry on the conflict. | 12yrs

Following the end of the smartphone wars between Apple and Google, experts are wondering whether the Apple-Samsung battles might also come to an end. | 12yrs

The rich are going to be heavily impacted by ongonig regulatory change, says Globalaw in an analysis of trends in the next 20 years. | 12yrs