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• Nine partners have left London's Frere Cholmeley Bischoff following last month's merger with UK firm Eversheds. They include three Paris-based partners who will move to other firms in the city: Ann Creelman Abboud is to join US firm Watson Farley & Williams's Paris office as partner in charge of its corporate practice and will take two avocats with her; commercial and litigation specialist Jean-Philippe Berthet will move to US firm Proskauer Rose Goetz & Mendelsohn and Richard Mees, a corporate and litigation specialist, will move to French firm Salans Hertzfeld & Heilbronn. Other moves include telecoms partner Neil Blundell going to UK firm Bird & Bird and Kirstene Baillie, a financial services specialist, moving to UK firm Field Fisher Waterhouse. Eleven other partners and 44 assistants have also left to set up a new firm, to be called Forsters (see Insides). • David Shaw, a senior corporate partner with UK firm Norton Rose, is to retire from the firm to join HSBC Holdings as adviser to the board. Shaw will chair the Investment Banking Audit Committee within the HSBC Group Executive Committee, advising on strategies and structural issues. He will take up his appointment on June 1.

Bruno Cova, general counsel at Agip, the Exploration & Production Division of Eni, talks to Barbara Galli

New Swiss legislation has opened the way for more sharing of administrative assistance information, building from the success of cooperation in the criminal field. By Claude Rouiller of Ziegler & Poncet, Geneva, former Chief Justice of Switzerland

A New York Court of Appeals case in May suggested that the US may introduce a system like the UK Mareva injunction to protect assets in insolvency. By Ronald L Cohen of Seward & Kissel, New York

When a railroad tank car explosion forced 1,000 residents of the New Orleans neighbourhood of Gentilly to evacuate their homes for 36 hours in 1987, the incident attracted little attention outside Louisiana. After all, there were no deaths and the residents did not suffer any serious damage or injuries. But 10 years later, after a New Orleans jury awarded US$3.4 billion in punitive damages against five companies found to be at fault, the case, In re New Orleans Train Car Leakage Fire Litigation, No. 97-CC-2547, suddenly captured the eye of the legal community and national media, earning itself the nickname 'The Great New Orleans Train Robbery'.

Hong Kong market regulators have acted to promote Hong Kong as an international financial centre while protecting the interests of local retail investors. By Richard A Drucker and Timothy A Steinert of Davis Polk & Wardwell, Hong Kong*

The Czech government is beginning the slow process of rebuilding investor confidence. Further banking and funds reforms are planned. By Madle Waldvogel of Beiten Burkhardt Mittl & Wegener, Prague

The law of the country where a bank account is kept will usually govern the banker-customer contract. However, the law of another country may affect the account.

On April 1 1998, the Third Financial Market Enhancement Act (Drittes Finanzmarktförderungsgesetz) entered into force amending various German statutes and covering stock exchange and securities trading law, investment fund law as well as the laws on venture capital companies, mortgage banks and public banks. The most important changes relate to the Stock Exchange Act (Börsengesetz), the Securities Trading Act (Wertpapierhandelsgesetz) and the Investment Companies Act (Kapitalanlagegesellschaftengesetz). In the area of stock exchange and securities trading law, the amendments include the following:

Arbitration has become an increasingly important method of dispute resolution. Before the resumption of sovereignty by China on July 1 1997, Hong Kong and China were separate parties to the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards 1958. Chinese artibral awards were convention awards, enforceable in Hong Kong under section 42(1) of the Arbitration Ordinance. However, since July 1 1997, when Hong Kong and China ceased to be separate parties to the New York Convention, section 42(1) has no longer applied to Chinese awards. Questions then arose as to how Chinese arbitral awards can be enforced in Hong Kong.