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In connection with the financial and political crises that swept Russia in August and September, the Russian government has adopted certain extraordinary measures, including the restructuring of the state's obligations under widely-held debt securities, and a moratorium on repayment of certain other hard currency debts. Creditor losses as a result of these measures are potentially enormous; by some estimates, in the hundreds of billions of dollars. Among other effects, the new measures have precipitated the effective collapse of the Russian banking system. From a legal perspective, the imposition of the measures has raised a host of issues, including the effective remedies available to bond creditors and the status of private debtor obligations in view of the moratorium.

The US is a party to the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards. The New York Convention is incorporated into federal law by Federal Arbitration Act which governs the enforcement of arbitration agreements and arbitral awards. A principal advantage of the New York Convention is that a US party, in whose favour an international arbitration award has been rendered, may use the Convention to enforce the award in another country that has ratified the Convention. But may a foreign party use the Convention to enforce an award arising out of an arbitration proceeding in the US?

The Czech subsidiary of Slovak electrical company Slovenske elektrarne has issued Kr3 billion bonds (US$97.6 million). This is the first ever bond issue by a foreign issuer to be fully documented in and solely designed for the Czech Republic. The lead underwriter in the deal was ING Barings Capital Markets advised by US firm White & Case, Prague. Lead partner Ivan Cestr (primary issues/securities) was assisted by associates Kvetoslav Krejci and Josef Otcenasek.

• Clifford Chance has recruited three new partners. Jason Glover will be based in London, while Pablo Bieger and José Antonio Cainzos join the Madrid office. Glover is a private equity specialist and he was formerly with Asian Infrastructure Fund Advisers. Bieger, a corporate finance specialist, joins from Garrigues & Andersen. He had left Clifford Chance for Arthur Andersen in 1996. Cainzos was head of the litigation department of Baker & McKenzie and he will hold the same position at Clifford Chance.

In a second article on the Financial Services and Markets Bill, Charles Abrams of S J Berwin & Co, London discusses the proposed authorization requirements for UK and non-UK activities and the proposed restrictions on marketing investments and investment services

Simmons & Simmons, London is representing First Active, due to be listed on the London and Dublin stock exchanges in early October. First National Building Society became First Active, a public limited company, in preparation for the share issue. The price range prospectus gives First Active a potential market capitalization of between IR£387 and IR£510 million ($552-$718 million). Simmons & Simmons is representing First Active in the UK. The team is led by partner William Charnley, head of corporate finance. He is assisted by partners Alan Karter (corporate) and Nick Cronkshaw (tax).

As a participating member state in the first group of countries to adopt the single currency in 1999, Portugal must ensure a smooth and effective transition to the euro in respect of the securities market.

Geoffrey Yeowart of Lovell White Durrant, London, updates the answers given in our December 1997 issue to the most frequently asked legal questions

Leading securitization specialist Robert Palache is to leave UK firm Clifford Chance to join investment bank Nomura International. Palache, the managing partner of Clifford Chance's finance practice, will give up legal practice completely in his new role as a Director and Joint Head of Securitization of Nomura's Principal Finance Group.

The Pünder group, a cooperation of European law firms, will be dissolved on December 31 1998. The remaining firms in the group had hoped to merge but they could not agree on the pace of integration. The group was hit earlier this year by the loss of Switzerland's Stoffel & Partner and Coppens Van Ommeslaghe & Faurès of Belgium, which also cited disagreements over integration between the firms. The remaining group comprises German firm Pünder Volhard Weber & Axster, Austrian firm Cerha Hempel & Spiegelfeld and French firm De Pardieu Brocas Maffei & Associés. At the end of the year these firms will continue to work together on a case-by-case basis but will no longer have a formal alliance. Peter Nägele, partner at Pünder Volhard, says: "All the firms agreed that alliances are no longer useful but our firm wanted to move ahead more quickly. We decided that it is better to dissolve the group and be free to pursue other options."