Latest legal news

Human rights campaigners called at the weekend on the Saudi Arabian authorities to drop apostasy charges against one of the Gulf country's web site editors, who could be executed if convicted. | 13yrs

Canada should not impose a blanket ban on witnesses wearing full face veils in court for religious reasons, with judges instructed to assess each case individually, the country's highest bench ruled last week. | 13yrs

A row involving a US footballer-turned-lawyer is threatening to destabilise one of the American midwest's oldest and largest law firms. | 13yrs

Four international banks were found guilty of fraud and fined a €1 million each by a Milan judge last week in a landmark ruling over complex interest rate swap deals cut during the run-up to the global financial crisis. | 13yrs

Internet giant Google has been given until January to address EU suspicions that its search engine promotes its own products over those of its rivals. | 13yrs

Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Co yesterday agreed to fork out almost $30 million to settle charges that it violated American fraud-busting legislation. | 13yrs

New York Law School has successfully dismissed a class action law suit claiming the institution misled potential students about graduates' success in finding legal jobs. | 13yrs

Frank Abagnale -- the infamous conman who inspired a Hollywood blockbuster -- has claimed that impersonating a lawyer was the easiest scam he ever pulled. | 13yrs

German government lawyers were this week reported to be poring over Ryanair records as allegations swirled around the airline that it dodged millions of pounds of air traffic control charges by falsifying take-off weight information. | 13yrs

Silicon Valley stalwarts Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati expanded its reach in China this week by opening in the capital, Beijing, the firm's third outpost in the jurisdiction. | 13yrs

Boston-based law firm Nixon Peabody is to shut its four-year-old Paris office, it was confirmed yesterday. | 13yrs

A raft of lawyers is licking their lips at the prospect of representing those senior executives at technology giant Hewlett-Packard who played key roles in the bungled purchase of British software firm Autonomy. | 13yrs

Heavyweight global deals will continue to be thin on the ground next year, according to crystal ball gazing specialist lawyers at a magic circle law firm. | 13yrs

Bolivian authorities arrested a judge this week on allegations of involvement in a scandal resulting in an American businessman being detained for 18 months for money laundering despite never being charged. | 13yrs

Lawyers for a Scientologist woman confirmed yesterday they will pursue to England's Supreme Court her bid to be allowed a religious wedding at the group's London premises in what could be a landmark hearing. | 13yrs

A round-up of recent global deals and the lawyers who made them happen | 13yrs

Korean technology manufacturer Samsung yesterday said it would drop its request for a European sales ban on certain Apple products, just one day after the Californian giant had a similar request for a US ban against Samsung rejected in court. | 13yrs

Users of Twitter and Facebook who post offensive messages are to be dealt with more leniently under fresh guidelines for England and Wales, in a move that could set an international standard for social media. | 13yrs

International organisations and foreign governments must pinpoint support for reforms in Burma, a leading group of human rights lawyers has said in advance of a major report on legal structures in the southeast Asian country. | 13yrs