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Tax specialists are the best paid in-house counsel, according to a survey conducted jointly by US legal consulting firm Altman Weil Pensa and the American Corporate Counsel Association. The Law Department Compensation Benchmarking Survey examines the finances of US company legal departments, and reveals that the top earning specialities are tax, and mergers and acquisitions, for which an average in-house counsel receives about US$120,000. Almost half chief legal officers earned between US$200,000 and US$350,000, while nearly 10% earned more than US$500,000. But the departments continued to rely heavily on external firms, with each, on average, using about 48 firms in 1996. This cost departments an average of US$376,162 per lawyer. The highest paid external lawyers were specialists in personal injury defence, earning US$108,151, followed by general litigation lawyers, who received US$100,938. Mergers and acquisitions specialists and intellectual property lawyers earned US$88,985 and US$85,283 respectively.

The Polish government will decide the fate of foreign lawyers in a series of votes over the next few weeks. One proposal would restrict foreign law firms' ability to hire domestic lawyers and could require all foreign offices to be operated by Polish firms. But foreign firms should not worry yet, according to Stephen Denyer, partner at Allen & Overy in Warsaw and leader of a group formed by foreign lawyers in Poland. "Although the voting is soon, the government proposed this three-and-a-half years ago," he explains. "The legal regime here will definitely change. It will probably be necessary to have fully-qualified lawyers, and the Polish system will change. But the rules might just restrict foreign firms, rather than forcing foreign lawyers not to practise here."

The Turkish government has completed a US$630 million project financing of a power plant. The Marmara Ereglisi plant will supply power to utility Turkiye Elektrik Uretim ve Ticaret, under a 20-year agreement. The state gas company will supply natural gas. Financing is sponsored by a consortium of Enron Corporation and Wing International, the UK's Midlands Electricity, and Turkey's GAMA Endustri. Eximbank, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and the Republic of Turkey are arranging the financing with a consortium of international commercial banks. Bankers Trust Company, ABNAmro and Bayerische Landesbank Girozentrale were lead lenders for the project.

City firm Cameron Markby Hewitt and rival McKenna & Co have ended months of speculation by announcing that they are to merge. On December 17 the firms issued a statement that a new firm, Cameron McKenna, will open on May 1 1997. The firms elected Bill Shelford, senior partner of Cameron Markby Hewitt, as senior partner of the new firm. Managing partner will be Robert Derry-Evans, now managing partner of McKenna. The firm will be the eighth largest in the UK, with nine international offices. The firm will specialize in banking, property, corporate insurance, projects and commercial law.

Garrett & Co, the UK firm linked to big six accountant Arthur Andersen, is continuing its expansion by opening a new office in Cambridge. Gerry Fitzsimmons is managing partner. He joins from rival Taylor Vinters's Cambridge office, where he headed the commercial department. The office is hoping to recruit five lawyers who specialize in corporate finance, intellectual property or employment law. "Cambridge is an increasingly exciting place to practise these areas," explains Fitzsimmons. "There is scope here for a quality national practice. There are a lot of science companies which are growing very fast in the local marketplace." He dismisses the competition, saying: "There aren't any national firms here, and we are recruiting aggressively." The firm now has six offices in the UK.

Peter Erwe and Peter Waltz of Oppenhoff & Rädler, Frankfurt, report that investment firms from other EU member states can now take advantage of the single passport under the Investment Services Directive in spite of delays in its implementation into German law

US utility Entergy Corporation has bid £1.26 billion (US$2.11 billion) for the UK's London Electricity.

For the first time, International Financial Law Review has identified the leading firms in the Yankee bond market. Meanwhile, Linklaters continues to dominate the Eurobond market. Richard Forster and Samantha Wigham report

Singapore firm Chor Pee & Company has broken into two new practices following disagreements between partners. The firm dissolved on December 31. Name partner Lim Chor Pee has started a new practice to be called Chor Pee & Partners, and is taking 20 of the original firm's 28 lawyers with him. But the remaining lawyers claim that he cannot use the name, because it is too similar to the old firm's name.