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A team of lawyers has left German firm Hölters & Elsing, Dusseldorf, to set up their own firm. Corporate partner Rainer Velten and Christian Franz, Bernd Mayer and Markus Jakoby have formed Velten Franz Mayer & Jakoby, with offices in Dusseldorf and Berlin. The firm will specialize in corporate and real estate transactions, and plans to open an office in Frankfurt shortly.

US partners' compensation increased by 3.56% in 1996, and associates compensation was boosted by 4.4%, in an economy where inflation was only 2.7%. These are the most striking results of the latest annual survey of law firm economics published by law firm consultants Altman Weil Pensa.

Mid-sized Singapore firm Colin Ng & Partners is adding to its international links. The firm already has a foreign office in Shanghai, and is soon to add offices in both Jakarta, Indonesia and one in Beijing.

International Financial Law Review understands that Bureau Francis Lefebvre and Briones, Alonso & Martin, leading firms, particularly in the tax field, in France and Spain respectively, have agreed a merger of their Spanish operations. The two will link formally on October 1 1997. The move is likely to be seen as a defensive reaction to the J&A Garrigues/Arthur Andersen merger in Spain, which puts particular pressure on tax firms. A full report on this merger will appear in the October issue of the magazine.

Coudert Brothers has announced it is to incorporate Montreal firm McDougall, Caron into its international network. The move into Canada is rare for an international US law firm and is the first US foray into Quebec. The firm has opened new offices in Berlin, St Petersburg and Denver in the last two years.

The short-term prospects for foreign lawyers in the Japanese legal market are addressed in an official report due out this year. Rob Dwyer listens to both sides of an increasingly acrimonious debate about the place of international firms in a Japan undergoing its financial ‘big bang’

A recent case reaffirms the Australian principle that lenders are entitled to calculate losses on a no-transaction basis after some negligent valuations, despite conflicting English decisions. By Francesca Rush of Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Brisbane

Cyprus has attracted offshore enterprises from almost 100 countries, and in the past few years Europe has been the main source of new company registrations. In the first half of 1997, 79.2% of the registrations originated from Europe, 12.9% from America, 5.5% from Asia, 1.7% from Africa and 0.7% from Australia.

Legislative Decree No. 124 of April 21 1993 introduced the concept of pension funds which could be established in addition to the national compulsory pension system.

Under Swedish legislation (12:2 of the Companies Act), a Swedish company may not pay a dividend to its shareholders exceeding the free equity as shown in the most recent balance sheet adopted. Even within the free equity, a dividend may not be paid if it contravenes good business practice as dictated by the company's or group's capitalization, cash position or general financial situation.