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The Japanese carbon market is opening its arms to the financial sector. This will lead to increased innovation and opportunity, say Tsutomu Hiraishi and Gavin Raftery of Baker & McKenzie GJBJ Tokyo Aoyama Aoki Koma Law Office

Trust law

Takeover defences

Netherlands Recommended firms Tier 1 Allen & Overy De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek Tier 2 Clifford Chance Loyens & Loeff NautaDutilh Stibbe Tier 3 Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Linklaters "The Netherlands is a playground for foreign investors," said one corporate lawyer, "who can take a perfectly good company and fuck it up for a couple of euros." The debate over the correct balance of power between a company's shareholders and management received a new twist this year when VEB, the Dutch shareholders' association, took ABN Amro to court to prevent it from selling its American operation, LaSalle, to Bank of America.

Luxembourg Recommended firms Tier 1 Allen & Overy Arendt & Medernach Bonn Schmitt Steichen Elvinger Hoss & Prussen Linklaters Tier 2 Kremer Associés & Clifford Chance Oostvogels Pfister Feyten Tier 3 Loyens Winandy Molitor Fisch & Associés Wildgen & Partners Luxembourg has been buzzing with activity following a surge of takeover activity. Private-equity firms in particular have used the jurisdiction to structure buyouts due to Luxembourg's friendly regulatory framework.

Italy Recommended firms Tier 1 Bonelli Erede Pappalardo Chiomenti Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton Tier 2 Gianni Origoni Grippo & Partners Giliberti Pappalettera Triscornia e Associati Grimaldi e Associati Pedersoli e Associati Tier 3 Clifford Chance d'Urso Munari Gatti Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Labruna Mazziotti Segni Studio Grande Stevens NCTM Consolidation is the engine behind Italian M&A. Banks and utilities companies have contracted what one lawyer described as "mergermania".

Brazil Recommended firms Tier 1 Machado Meyer Sendacz e Opice Mattos Filho Veiga Filho Marrey Jr e Quiroga Pinheiro Neto Tier 2 Barbosa Müssnich & Aragão Souza Cescon Avedissian Barrieu e Flesch Tozzini Freire Teixeira e Silva Tier 3 Demarest e Almeida Levy & Salomão Motta Fernandes Rocha Pinheiro Guimarães Trench Rossi e Watanabe Mergers and acquisitions partners all agree on several things. First, the M&A markets have not been this active since the dotcom boom, nearly a decade ago. The devaluation of the dollar and the influx of foreign capital into the country mean that the prices of Brazilian companies are going up – and that means they are in demand.

During the past three months, the financial press has been full of observations of industry specialists and commentators concerning just how long it will take before the asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities markets are restored to some semblance of normalcy. Estimates offered by people who usually know what they are talking about range from at least a year to up to three years. In light of the size of these markets and the large number of people whose lives and livelihoods have been affected by the meltdown, it is not surprising that there is such constant focus on how long it will take.

Freshfields and Clifford Chance dominated the recent boom in Germany

China private equity is moving onshore. Here's how to structure a domestic, renminbi fund