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Linklaters and A&O act on benchmark Polish bond issue

For years Spanish firms had a comfortable grip on their domestic market, coexisting almost peacefully with their international rivals. But now competition in the Spanish legal market is growing as firms enter a new phase. Thomas Williams reports from Madrid and Barcelona

A poor year for capital markets work and the prospect of a slowing economy are adding to the pressures on Portuguese law firms to define their strategies. Thomas Williams reports from Lisbon on what firms are looking to do next

In March IFLR held ceremonies in London and Hong Kong to celebrate the achievements of the international legal market’s top firms. In this issue we present the winners and runners up in this year’s awards, with analysis of what it took to win the deal and team awards. Leading the pack were Sullivan & Cromwell who won IFLR Team of the Year, and Linklaters & Alliance who won International Law Firm of the Year for Asia

Simmons names new senior partner

Weil, Gotshal & Manges and Clifford Chance have advised on the first securitization of royalty payments for a multi-jurisdictional music publishing catalogue. The deal, for Chrysalis Group, is the world's largest transaction backed by music rights and the first for an international music publisher. Jacky Kelly led the Weil Gotshal team acting for arranger The Royal Bank of Scotland, which is securitizing the publisher's share of royalties for the next 15 years. John Woodhall at Clifford Chance led the team advising Chrysalis.

The Singapore joint law venture between Lovells and Lee & Lee, approved by the attorney general in August 2000, took effect on March 1. The joint venture is structured as a limited company with six directors each from Lovells and Lee & Lee. An executive committee has responsibility for day-to-day management. The joint venture comprises 17 partners and 32 other lawyers all based in Singapore, covering corporate and commercial law, banking, project finance, intellectual property and information technology, as well as business reconstruction, debt rescheduling and insolvency.

In December 2000, Kazakhstan took another major step to reform its financial sector by adopting a modern insurance law. In a region where the concept of insurance and the need for it are still widely misunderstood, Kazakhstan's Law on Insurance Activity aims to create the type of domestic insurance industry that is necessary for any market economy to function smoothly.

One of Clifford Chance's most senior asset finance partners has left the UK firm to become a director in the leasing and tax-based finance group of ANZ Investment Bank in London. The departure has forced the UK firm to rejig the lawyers in its asset finance team.

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