Search results for

West Coast firm Cooley Godward will be heading east when it opens a Washington, DC office later this year. It will be the first time the firm has had an office in the US capital, although it has had an office in Reston, Virginia, since 1999. Three partners joined that office last month from DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary, including the former managing partner of Gray Cary's Washington office. Margaret Kavalaris and colleagues Michael Marinelli and Tami Howie, who between them practice a combination of corporate finance, securities and international trade law, will be the nucleus of the Washington office, which is due to open by the end of 2005, and they will be joined by other members of the Reston branch.

Despite missing the July 1 deadline, France is now putting the finishing touches to its implementation, says Marc-Etienne Sébire

Regulators and rating agencies are taking a close look at the collateralized debt obligation (CDO) market and its participants. Simon Hart assesses whether regulatory concerns are transitory or more deep-rooted

Davis Polk & Wardwell hired its first non-US law partner. The firm hired French corporate lawyer Arnaud Peres from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in Paris. Said John Ettinger, managing partner of Davis Polk: "France is a key market for us. Arnaud's excellent legal skills, market reputation and client service philosophy perfectly match our goals and practice and will allow us to take advantage of the significant business opportunities we see in the French market. In the near future, we anticipate building out our Paris team with additional French partners and associates." The firm's strategy is usually to practice only US law while partnering with the best independent firms for local law advice. But the firm has made an exception in Paris to answer the needs of French clients, who apparently want their law firms to practice more than just US law.

Clifford Chance promoted Paul Greenwell and Angela Krantz to counsel in the firm's Tokyo office. Greenwell specializes in asset and structured finance and focuses on the aviation sector. He joined Clifford Chance's Tokyo office in 2001. Angela Krantz has been a lawyer in Tokyo for nine years and specializes in advising both Japanese and non-Japanese clients on corporate and commercial transactions. Her practice is centred on M&A, private equity and joint ventures. Before joining Clifford Chance in June 2004 she was with Morrison & Foerster in Tokyo.

The first EU equity deals complying with the Prospectus Directive have allayed fears that the new rules would complicate share offerings. By James Rice

Over the past decade, Greek arbitration law has developed to meet international standards. Nikolaos Panou and Panos Yiannopoulos of Kyriakides Georgopoulos Law Firm track its progress

Recent legislative changes have made real estate investment companies an effective instrument through which to invest in the real estate market in Greece. George Photopoulos of Photopoulos & Associates explains

Christian Lambie, Allen & Overy The Royal Bank of Scotland acted as arranger and lead manager on a £355 million ($616.5 million) issuance of commercial mortgage-backed notes by Trafford Centre Finance, a member of Peel Acquisitions Group. The transaction involved the issuance of reserve notes, on which no interest or principal is payable while held by the issuer. Partner Christian Lambie led the Allen & Overy team advising RBS. Travers Smith advised The Peel Acquisitions Group. Sachin Zodgekar is in-house counsel at RBS.

IFLR continues its series of reports on the implementation of the Prospectus Directive with briefings on changes to the legal environment for securities offerings in France, Malta and Portugal