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Lex Mundi, the international association of law firms, has decided to change its policy of excluding firms in New York, London, Washington DC, California, Texas and Illinois. It is now seeking one of the leading firms in each location to join its members. Washington DC's Steptoe & Johnson LLP is the first firm to take advantage of Lex Mundi's policy change to join the international alliance.

The decision of the UK High Court which threw the use of Chinese walls in professional firms into doubt has been overturned. The Court of Appeal has removed the injunction from accountant KPMG which barred it from acting for the Brunei Investment Agency on an investigation into the Agency's former activities. Woolf MR, giving the judgment of the court, said that the approach to such a case should be: to determine the existence of confidential information which might harm a former client; to determine whether there was a risk of that information being disclosed; and whether the former fiduciary relationship was so strong that the court should intervene with an injunction. These issues were to be determined on the facts of each case.

Allen & Overy is gaining an office in Bangkok as a result of its merger with local firm MPS & Associates. The firm already has regional offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore & Tokyo. MPS & Associates is a 18 lawyer corporate firm, working with international as well as domestic clients. It is well regarded for its banking and capital markets work. The three existing partners of MPS & Associates – Pises Sethsathira, Simon Makinson and Surapon Satimanont – will become partners in Allen & Overy on November 1.

• US law firm White & Case has announced the appointement of five new partners. Michael Bühler, who specializes in international commercial arbitration and international business transactions, has been named partner at the firm's Paris office. International tax partner Barrye Wall has joined the Los Angeles office. Mark Powell, a specialist in European competition and trade law, has been named a partner at the Brussels office. Partner James McGuire has been hired by the New York office as a specialist in white collar crime, complex civil litigation and corporate internal investigations. John Sarchio has joined the New York office as partner. He is head of the firm's Insurance Industry Practice Group. • Paul Gonson, attorney for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has announced that he will retire at the end of the year. Mr Gonson became SECs counsel in 1979 and has argued more than 100 appellate cases on behalf of the Commission, including cases before the Supreme Court and all US Courts of Appeal. He will continue to act as part-time consultant to the Commission following his retirement.

The Castagnede Report produced by the Commission this month recommends that the EU should begin a gradual reconciliation of the member states' VAT rates, ie turnover tax, and it should harmonize reduced rates by widening their field of application. The report comments that the level of VAT rates in member states still varies considerably with the normal rate lying somewhere between 15% and 25% and reduced rates lying between 5% and 17%. The report states that there are a number of substantial differences between the member states in their application of VAT. Denmark does not apply any reduced rates; Austria, Portugal, Finland and Sweden apply two reduced rates; the other member states apply a single reduced rate but also apply special rates, including a zero rate on some products. At the moment these differences do not cause distortions in competition or affect trade flows. However, the Commission is concerned that with the continuation of market integration, the arrival of the single currency and the increased use of electronic commerce, competition will increase, creating the need to harmonize VAT.

The government has now published its Bill on the UK’s new financial regulatory system, but only time will tell whether the new hybrid will function effectively. By Simon Gleeson of Richards Butler, London

In an attempt to attract more investors to join the Cyprus Stock Exchange (CSE), the income tax law has been amended to offer substantial tax incentives. The incentives aim to attract both offshore and local organizations to invest in the CSE as well as private companies.

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.