French authorities face difficulties in seizing oligarchs’ villas April 1, 2022 Sanctions enforcers in France are struggling to seize oligarchs’ assets due to being held back by French laws. The country’s sanctions enforcers have now frozen €850m worth of assets, including 20 villas on the Côte d’Azur. However, French officials are currently struggling to actually seize the frozen assets, despite the EU’s “freeze and seize” [...]
Freshfields outbids Magic Circle rivals by offering newly qualified lawyers £125,000 a year April 1, 2022 London’s oldest law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is set to pay its newly qualified lawyers more than any other Magic Circle law firm, after upping pay for its new associates to £125,000 a year. Freshfields salary hike will see it pay NQs considerably more than its Magic Circle rivals – including Clifford Chance, Linklaters, Allen [...]
Mining giant BHP to face £5bn lawsuit over Brazilian dam collapse disaster April 1, 2022 Mining giant BHP is set to face a £5bn lawsuit in London’s Court of Appeal next week, over the collapse of a Brazilian dam in 2015 which led to one of the country’s worst ever environmental disasters. The claim, brought forward by more than 200,000 Brazilians, follows the catastrophic collapse of the Fundão tailings dam [...]
Los Angeles judges approves Activision’s $18m sexual discrimination settlement March 31, 2022 A Los Angeles judge has approved an $18m (£13.7m) settlement between Activision Blizzard and the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to settle one of several lawsuits facing the videogames developer. In a statement, Activision Blizzard said the federal court had agreed to sign off on its $18m settlement after the EEOC accused the firm [...]
Hackers tricked Meta into handing over user data after forging emergency requests March 31, 2022 Hackers pretending to be police officers tricked Meta into handing over user data after filing fake “emergency data requests”. The Facebook owner gave user information – including phone numbers and physical addresses – over to hackers, after they filed the falsified requests while pretending to be law enforcement officers, sources told AFP. The hackers were [...]
Use of AI tools in justice system poses serious threat to civil liberties, House of Lords says March 31, 2022 A House of Lords select committee has said the government should set up a national body to regulate use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the UK’s justice system, after warning deployment of such tools poses a serious threat to civil liberties. In a report, the House of Lords committee warned that “without many of us [...]
Save the Children sets up Islamic charity fund March 31, 2022 A leading Islamic scholar has endorsed Save the Children’s plans to launch a Zakat charity fund. Islamic scholar Shaykh Haytham Tamim issued a Fatwa in favour of Save the Children’s new fundraising policy, meaning Muslims from around the world will now be able to contribute to the charity as part of Zakat. As the fifth [...]
Laytons ETL completes acquisition of City of London real estate specialist Cannings Connolly March 31, 2022 Laytons ETL Global has completed its acquisition of City of London law firm Cannings Connolly, marking Laytons’ first acquisition since it joined ETL Global last year. In a statement Laytons’ managing partner John Abbott said the deal will add “valuable” new strings to its bow, by expanding its commercial real estate and construction offerings. The [...]
Law Society supports British judges’ decisions to step down from Hong Kong’s top court March 30, 2022 The Law Society of England and Wales has said it supports the decisions made by two top-ranking British judges to resign from Hong Kong’s highest court, after they claimed the city-state’s crackdown on free speech has made their positions untenable. Law Society president I. Stephanie Boyce said the Law Society shared Lord Reed’s assessment that [...]
Law firms drive demand for London’s ‘super-prime’ office space March 29, 2022 Law firms are driving demand for “super-prime” office space in Central London, amid fierce competition to recruit and retain legal talent. Law firms took up more than a quarter (27 per cent) of all office space in the City of London last year, according to figures from Knight Frank. Intense competition between law firms to [...]