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The European Company Statute (ECS) continues its tortuous progress towards implementation. On December 20 2000, political agreement was reached by the EU's Council of Ministers to establish the Statute, and on the related Directive concerning worker involvement in European companies. However, the question remains as to whether the compromise reached, which is still to be endorsed by the European Parliament, will in practice be palatable to countries such as the UK with less of a tradition of worker involvement, than other countries.

Law No. 724 of October 29 1984 introduced the regime of the Tesoreria Unica with respect to regions and other public entities. According to this regime, and prior to the coming into force of the recent amendments, regions, which were included in Table B of Law No. 724, had to deposit the majority of their available funds and revenues with the Central State Treasury.

The law in New Zealand governing security over personal property is soon to undergo significant reform with the implementation of the Personal Property Securities Act 1999 (PPSA). As previously reported (IFLR, December 1999) the PPSA, which was passed by parliament in October 1999, will introduce a regulatory regime for all security interests taken in personal property (which covers property including goods, motor vehicles, livestock and shares and other investment products, but not land and buildings). Holders of security interests in personal property will need to register prescribed details of their interests on the Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR) to perfect those interests. Registration will usually ensure priority for a security over another security that is not registered.

In December 2000, Kazakhstan took another major step to reform its financial sector by adopting a modern insurance law. In a region where the concept of insurance and the need for it are still widely misunderstood, Kazakhstan's Law on Insurance Activity aims to create the type of domestic insurance industry that is necessary for any market economy to function smoothly.

Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton and US rival Brown & Wood have acted on the euro 17.5 billion ($15.7 billion) multi-currency bond offering by France Telecom, the largest corporate bond offering to date. Clearys, led by John Brinitzer, advised lead managers BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse First Boston, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and Schroder Salomon Smith Barney. Brown & Wood advised France Telecom. Representing France Telecom out of Brown & Wood's New York office were partners Jack Kantrowitz and Nicholas Brown. Partner John Russell was advising from the firm's London office.

In March IFLR held ceremonies in London and Hong Kong to celebrate the achievements of the international legal market’s top firms. In this issue we present the winners and runners up in this year’s awards, with analysis of what it took to win the deal and team awards. Leading the pack were Sullivan & Cromwell who won IFLR Team of the Year, and Linklaters & Alliance who won International Law Firm of the Year for Asia

Legal advisers:

Clifford Chance, Shearman & Sterling and Denton Wilde Sapte have advised on two of the first deals to build own and run power stations in the Gulf State of Oman, marking a significant step forward in the privatization of the power industry in the Gulf state. At the beginning of March Clifford Chance announced the completion of the $130 million Al-Kamil gas fired power station project on which it acted for International Power, while Shearman & Sterling expects later this month to close a similar deal for AES Barka, a joint venture of US company AES Corporation and Oman company Multitech. In both cases British firm Denton Wilde Sapte acted for the government of Oman.

Davis Polk & Wardwell and Allen & Gledhill have advised on Asia's first hybrid tier-one financing. The deal, for the Development Bank of Singapore (DBS), was welcomed by investors despite launching into fragile markets. Davis Polk, advising Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs on the international tranche, and Allen & Gledhill, advising DBS on the domestic tranche, are the first firms to work on such a deal in Asia and worked closely with the Monetary Authority of Singapore to establish the regulatory structure.

For years Spanish firms had a comfortable grip on their domestic market, coexisting almost peacefully with their international rivals. But now competition in the Spanish legal market is growing as firms enter a new phase. Thomas Williams reports from Madrid and Barcelona