Latest legal news

Global law firm giant Clifford Chance has bumped up its Singapore offering by cutting a formal alliance deal with a local litigation niche practice, the two firms announced today. | 13yrs

Lawyers are predicting an increasingly robust approach from US financial services prosecutors following record-breaking settlements with two global banks over money laundering and sanctions busting. | 13yrs

Leading central and East European law firm Cerha Hempel Spiegelfeld Hlawati is to launch in Prague after taking over a local practice. | 13yrs

Rows over legal aid systems around the world continued apace this week, with recent lawyer strikes in Scotland followed by disputes at opposite ends of the globe in Australia and Northern Ireland. | 13yrs

The chairman of the Cayman Islands Stock Exchange is to take over the helm of an offshore boutique law firm. | 13yrs

International law firms with offices in the Cayman Islands could soon face a raft of pro bono requirements as the local authorities legislate to involve lawyers in the social fabric of the leading off-shore financial centre. | 13yrs

Debate over whether the British public is getting value for money from its legal aid system ratcheted up at the weekend, following reports that six top barristers hauled in more than half a million pounds each from the public purse last year. | 13yrs

Qatar's authorities moved last week to enhance the emirate's position in the global financial market by authorising measures to simplify rules and create a single umbrella regulator. | 13yrs

America's legal profession grew for the third straight month, US government figures released at the end of last week showed. | 13yrs

Zimbabwe's police and security officers are routinely intimidating, attacking and even abducting local lawyers, according to an open letter from human rights activists in the country. | 13yrs

English footballer Joey Barton has threatened legal action against Britain's Daily Mail newspaper after a column last week suggested he should 'come out as gay'. | 13yrs

Sri Lankan lawyers today pledged support to the country's chief justice after she walked out of impeachment hearings, further damaging relations between the south Asian country's legislature and judiciary. | 13yrs

Global human rights lawyers are pressing leaders in the United Arab Emirates to make a public statement on the location of detained civil liberties campaigners. | 13yrs

A former Barclays Bank employee has been fined after unlawfully accessing statements belonging to her partner's ex-wife, triggering questions over personal information storage, access and abuse. | 13yrs

America's financial services watchdog is probing allegations that one of Germany's leading banks covered up massive securities portfolio losses after the global markets nosedived four years ago, media reports suggest this week. | 13yrs

A female partner at a top New Zealand law firm is boycotting the annual Law Society Christmas party after it emerged the celebrations would be held at a club that does not allow women as members. | 13yrs

The independent Italian business law firm born out of the wreckage of global practice Dewey & LeBoeuf suffered a mass exodus this week after its managing partner defected with a team of 35 lawyers to launch their own practice. | 13yrs

In the rough and tumble world that is North American ice hockey, the players are accustomed to taking routine hammerings. | 13yrs

Australia's top mergers and acquisitions lawyers are looking to put a poor 12 months behind them by eyeing up deals in the pipeline for next year. | 13yrs