Sanctions: an unprecedented moment for doing business in Russia

YUST’s Evgeny Zhilin outlines the benefits.

2014 has brought many challenges to the Russian economy. The already modest growth rates that were demonstrated in the previous year were targeted even more by various sanctions imposed against Russia by the US, EU and some other jurisdictions. As a reaction to these, Russia has installed counter-sanctions in the food sector, hitting some of the European food producers hard. Continue reading “Sanctions: an unprecedented moment for doing business in Russia”

Guest post: The West Lothian Question – a few thoughts

The so-called West Lothian question is a political and not legal question. It was asked as long ago as 1977 by Tam Dalyell MP who represented West Lothian from 1962 to 1983 and Linlithgow from 1983 to 2005. The question asks whether MPs from Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, sitting in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, should be able to vote on matters that affect only England.

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Guest post: Excalibur sends chill wind… (again)

The latest instalment in the Excalibur case is interesting for many reasons. One is Lord Justice Clarke’s claim that making litigation funders pay costs on an indemnity basis when costs are awarded against the party they are funding on an indemnity basis is not likely to chill access to justice.

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Guest post: If your anti-bribery policy is more than three pages, it probably won’t work

Three years ago Bribery Inc. went mad. Every law firm, accounting firm and uncle Tom Cobley and all got into the anti-bribery business. Many detailed anti-bribery policies were sold, placed on corporate intranets and training given.

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Guest post: Partners Behaving Badly – how not to handle client relations

The other day we were in a meeting with the head of strategy and marketing and the chair of an AmLaw 100 firm, and the chair mentioned an extremely promising introductory meeting he’d had a few days earlier with the General Counsel of a well-recognised company.

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Guest post: Watson, I presume? (or how I learned to stop worrying and love disruption in law)

I’m often asked – on a panel last month in Europe and on a panel later this month right here in New York at the Law Firm COO & CFO Forum, for example – what I think about ‘disruption’ in the legal industry.

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Lateral hiring in the Caribbean and the Channel Islands

Philip Jennings of JLegal discusses these key jurisdictions and the opportunities (and challenges) of moving offshore.

The first thing to state is that the sub-heading above defines the importance of Cayman, Bermuda, BVI, Jersey and Guernsey. These are key jurisdictions in the global legal market and the original locations for the major offshore law firms which now have offices in myriad other locations, including in Asia and the Middle East. They are still where those firms have most of their lawyers and where most of their work originates from. The transactional and contentious work carried out under, and sometimes because of,  the laws and regulations of these countries is always high value and cross-border, involving the Magic  and Silver Circle firms on a regular basis. Sometimes the premier City or US firms will instruct the offshore firms on part of a deal or case but also some of the most prestigious clients directly instruct the offshore firms, including global banks and  financial institutions, ultra high-net worth individuals, trust companies and funds.  

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Guest post: Full of sound and fury on human rights – the Conservative’s British Bill of Rights

The Conservative plan for a ‘British Bill of Rights and Responsibilities’ is finally being made clear today. The tone of the proposals is harsh and uncompromising, and politically calculated to be. Lawyers will be shocked, and yes, some of their clients will be worse off. Tory Eurosceptics and tabloids will be jubilant, and potential UKIP voters impressed.

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Guest post: The Blind Men & Big Data – what does Big Data mean for law firms?

A few weeks ago I returned from the 37th annual ILTA education conference, which was held this year at the Gaylord Opryland hotel in Nashville.The Gaylord in Nashville is not my favorite venue. It was cobbled together from the original Opryland Hotel when the Gaylord company decided to build conference destinations. It’s difficult to easily get from one area of the structure to another, and easy to get lost, The Gaylord hotels in Dallas and Washington are purpose-built and much more ‘user friendly.’

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Guest post: what might the Tory human rights plan be?

Although Tory hostility to human rights law is obvious, there’s been vagueness till now about what actual policy a Conservative government would pursue. For a long time the plan was to draft a ‘British Bill of Rights’ the content of which was unclear – and the idea hasn’t gone away.

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