Practice areas

The total of criminal penalties given to corporates in the US rose 647 per cent between 2001 and 2012, according to figures complied by Brandon Garrett, law school professor at the University of Virginia. | 12yrs

The UK government is cracking down on a culture of ambulance-chasing by barring lawyers from offering iPads, money and other deals to victims of accidents. | 12yrs

General Motors has fired 15 employees, including some legal execs, over a 'pattern of incompetence and neglect' in the recall of cars which has led to at least 13 deaths. | 12yrs

A new law firm, to be known as Simmons Hanly Conroy, will be created on 1 July through through the merger of St Louis-based Simmons Browder and New York-based Hanly Conroy. | 12yrs

Bank of America is in discussions with the US Department of Justice over the payment of some $US12b, in order to end the largest legal threat it faces. | 12yrs

Judges who travel to remote parts of Australia are being overwhelmed by the volume of family law cases, with workloads rising so much that they have to handle 70 matters a week. | 12yrs

Facing a fine of US$10b for allegedly breaking a blacklist to trade with Sudan, French bank BNP is reported to have tried an 'advice of counsel' defence, referring to a leading US law firm. | 12yrs

UK law firm DAC Beachcroft is closing one of two offices in the city of Manchester and is launching a redundancy consultation over 65 posts. | 12yrs

Korean companies considering entering US markets need to be aware of the aggressive stance of many US businesses, according to Jeff Randall, global IP litigation head at Paul Hastings. | 12yrs

As the Chinese Trademark Office rushes to meet new deadlines for trademark applications, inexperienced staff have turned down applications with 'no basis in either logic or law', according to law firm Harris Moure. | 12yrs

Research from Allen & Overy suggests that the new European patent-filing and enforcement system could put the continent ahead of the US and Asia in terms of attractiveness. | 12yrs

Pillsbury Winthrop, the 15-office international firm, is strengthening its Nashville back office with the addition of six new litigation support lawyers. | 12yrs

New laws are being introduced in the UK through which lawyers, couriers, van hire companies and others who assist organised crime can face up to five years in prison for giving their assistance. | 12yrs

Ugandan lawyer Gerald Abila has set up an organisation called Barefoot Law to inform the majority of the population, some 36m people, who live outside the capital of Kampala, about their rights and obligations. | 12yrs

US-based 1,100-lawyer international firm Bingham McCutchen is losing 15 lawyers to other firms after what the Boston-headquartered practice admitted was a 'challenging 2013'. | 12yrs

The number of 'grey divorces' has increased almost 40 per cent in the last four years, according to family lawyer Jane Miller of Adelaide-based Tindall Gask Bentley. | 12yrs

There are 177 former government officials acting as consultants or other advisers to the top ten Korean law firms, according to government agencies. | 12yrs

EY, the accountancy giant which is increasingly spreading into legal services, is planning to unveil its planned Forensic Technology Services practice in Manchester this autumn, and to recruit 50 professionals over the next two years to staff it. | 12yrs

Three top Republican lawyers are leaving Patton Boggs to join the government regulation practice at Jones Day on Monday, a day after the Squire Patton Boggs merger takes place. | 12yrs