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BBLP Beiten Burkhardt Mittl & Wegener was hit in early May by the defection of its entire Frankfurt mergers and acquisitions (M&A) team and all but one of its five partners in the city to Weil, Gotshal & Manges. Led by the managing partner of the firm's Frankfurt office, Gerhard Schmidt, partners Heiner Drüke, Stephan Grauke and Uwe Hartmann are to move to the local office of the US firm leaving just one partner, the public notary Thilo Krause-Palfner, to hold the fort for BBLP in the city.

Mexico's congress amended a securities bill increasing in May, minority rights for shareholders and increasing disclosure levels, which it hopes will spur the growth of the country's capital markets.

There may be no such thing as a 100% risk-free project financing, particularly in emerging markets, but excess risk is still a deterrent to investors. In the first of a two-part series, Ellen Hayes and Amy Cummings of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Washington, DC, look at what steps being taken to mitigate the problems of corruption, legislation reform and arbitration procedures

Most of New Zealand's insider trading laws have been in force for over 10 years, although during that time no one has ever been found guilty of insider trading. In March 2001 the government announced changes to improve New Zealand's insider trading regime. This followed the release of a discussion document on the subject in September 2000, and the resulting submissions, on which the government has decided to act.

News round-up In a move described by Mannheimer Swartling as a "friendly separation", five senior lawyers at the legal arm of Enskilda Securities, Enskilda Law took partnerships with the Stockholm-based firm.

News round-up Following the example of their neighbours across the water in Denmark, medium-sized Norwegian firms have started the year with a rash of mergers that has seen local market distribution shrink and conflict of interest problems grow.

It is 90 years since a Darwin to Alice Springs railway was first proposed. On April 20 2001 the proposal got the final go-ahead when the AustralAsia Railway Corporation; Dennis Burke, the Northern Territory chief minister; Dean Brown, the South Australian premier; and the Asia Pacific Transport Consortium signed the final key documents in Sydney, completing the transaction. The A$1.3 billion ($700 million) project involves the construction of the 1,400km railway linking Darwin to Alice Springs. The railway will also incorporate the existing Tarcoola to Alice Springs railway line and will provide rail access to a new Darwin port.

Andersen Legal is re-entering the Hong Kong market after its failed association with Ede Charlton. It will return to the Hong Kong market through a merger with Kwok & Yih, a local firm comprising five partners and 16 associates that is strong in capital markets, corporate finance and M&A.

Lovells is to strengthen its capability in Tokyo, with plans to focus on expanding its mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and securitization teams by adding lawyers from its London office and by looking to bring in new hires. Lovells has kick-started its plans to grow in Japan by relocating new partner Tim Lester, a securitization specialist, from London to Tokyo. Lester, who is one of 24 partners who were made up by Lovells on May 1, moved to Tokyo to join Rupert Lewi (corporate finance) and Michael Hancock (structured and project finance), the firm's two locally-based partners.

Financial institutions have called on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to clarify its new disclosure rule.