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UK firm Lovell White Durrant has hired capital markets specialist Philip Boys from rival UK firm Slaughter and May. Boys will be a partner in Lovell's Paris office. "We have been doing a lot of capital markets work out of Paris for Indosuez and a number of French banks," says David Hudd, partner in the London capital markets group. "Philip will be involved there, where he has a dual qualification [as a solicitor and avocat]." Boys has wide experience of debt and equity work after 12 years as a partner with Slaughter and May. Reaction to Boys's defection reflects Slaughter and May's receding profile in international capital markets work (see IFLRev survey, February 1997 page 19).

Although still often thought of as accounting firms, the big six are increasingly eager to call themselves professional service providers and offer a full range of services. Legal services are the latest part of that trend. Phillippa Cannon reports

In the first of a series of articles drawn from the 1998 edition of the International Financial Law Review 1000 Directory, Paul Lee examines the IFLRev50, the world largest law firms, and their international strategies

BAT Industries is undergoing a £30 billion reconstruction involving the merger of its financial services arm with Zurich Insurance Group. BAT's tobacco business British American Tobacco plc will be listed separately in London and the merged financial services group will be held by a Swiss-registered operating company. BAT shareholders will own 45% of this company through a UK-listed holding company, Allied Zurich, and Zurich shareholders will own 55% through a Swiss-listed holding company.

Nomura International, the Japanese investment bank, has bought 4,000 pubs in a £1.2 billion (US$1.9 billion) purchase from Intreprenneur. Nomura bought the pubs, owned by Grand Metropolitan and Fosters Brewing Group, through the Grand Pub Company.

The former UK Association of Compliance Officers has been re-launched in London as the Compliance Institute six days before the new super-regulator is unveiled by UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown. The Institute has been set up to provide a formal qualification and training package for compliance staff. "Although new legislation and the work of regulatory bodies have helped, financial misconduct and the breach of financial regulations remain rife," says Clive Warburton, president of the Institute. "The Compliance Institute's main purpose is to advance the standards of competence among compliance staff and ultimately to elevate the compliance ethos within regulated businesses."

• London firm Simmons & Simmons has recruited two banking partners from rival City firms. Nicholas Fisher, from Dibb Lupton Alsop, joins Simmons as a partner in the firm's transactional banking practice on December 1. Kim Walking, an asset finance specialist at Theodore Goddard, is joining the banking and capital markets department. • New York firm Carter, Ledyard & Milburn has added Masahiro Yoshimura, formerly at Holme Roberts & Owen, Denver, to its Japanese Practice Group. He will join the firm as an associate.

US firm Baker & McKenzie has worked on more project finance deals this year than any other firm. The figures, published in Privatisation International, include infrastructure deals for 1996 and 1997. The value of projects reported this year rose to US$1.6 trillion.

US firm Kelley Drye & Warren has affiliated with an Indonesian firm, Soebagjo, Roosdiono, Jatim & Djarot.The Jakarta firm, which employs 25 lawyers, will complement Kelley Drye's Hong Kong office. Stephen Stein, a partner in New York, will be responsible for the Indonesian Practice Group, though the Hong Kong partners will have a significant role in overseeing the office. Foreign firms' activities in Indonesia are limited, forcing most to affiliate with local firms. Kelley Drye follows Baker & McKenzie, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and several other large international firms into Jakarta. US-qualified associate Gregory McMahon will be the first lawyer to move across from the Hong Kong office. "We expect McMahon will be there full-time soon, after which it depends on how business develops," says Stein. "It is probably going to be quite slow for a while, but the potential for growth is there—currency problems notwithstanding."

With the remaining barriers between cantons being dismantled and clients demanding specialist expertise, the traditional divisions within the Swiss market are disappearing. Paul Lee reports