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The French securitization market has experienced a significant boom over the last 18 months, as corporates and French financial institutions alike learn to reap the benefits of an increasingly flexible and reliable legal framework introduced by the law of December 23 1988. This established a new type of entity, the fonds commun de créances (FCC) aimed at providing market participants with a vehicle for securitization structures. In so doing, France was the first civil law country to deal successfully with the constraints imposed by the civil law regime in terms of the transfer of assets and create an entity capable of matching the flexibility available in Anglo Saxon jurisdictions.

KPMG Consulting gave a much-needed shot in the arm to the Nasdaq market with its $2 billion initial public offering (IPO) in February. The issue was the biggest seen from a US company in almost a year. It was also the first time a big five accountancy firm's consultancy business had been floated.

For the first time in five years Linklaters & Alliance has been toppled from its top spot on stand alone bond work. Its successor is the firm who has played the bridesmaid for so long – Allen & Overy. Ben Maiden reports on the surprise results of this year’s IFLR international bond survey

The Belgian voice recognition group Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products (L&H) has broken off its relationship with Belgian firm Loeff Claeys Verbeke. L&H has endured a crippling last 10 months. Accounting irregularities and a Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation into fraudulent activity has seen the company's share price slump.

Freehills is hiring Joe Longo, the chief enforcer for the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), who will move to the firm's Sydney office as special counsel in May. Longo has coordinated action for the Commission on financial services and products, markets regulation, takeovers, managed investments and accounting issues. He has also worked closely with international regulators on enforcement activities.

Stephen Mostyn-Williams Stephen Mostyn-Williams has left his post as head of European acquisition finance at Shearman & Sterling to become director of business development at Landwell. Though Mostyn-Williams is credited with the success of Shearmans' acquisition finance practice in Europe, he says that he is not moving over to PricewaterhouseCoopers' correspondent law firm as a rainmaker. "This is absolutely not, 'Oh, Stephen's leaving Shearmans and he's going to start an acquisition finance practice at Landwell'," says Mostyn-Williams.

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2000 was a bumper year for lawyers in Paris working at the high-end of capital markets and M&A – and not just those at the international firms. Now, as Thomas Williams reports from Paris, it is up to the regulators to make sure restrictive regulations do not stifle the boom

Decision 486 of the Andean Community Commission, the new Intellectual Property Law for the member countries of the Andean Community (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela), grants additional protection for well-known trademarks. This protection guards well-known signs against unauthorized registration of a domain name, in all countries of the Community.

Hong Kong’s mobile operators have waited since late last year to find out how they will be asked to pay for the territory’s 3G licences. Michael Reede and Alana Triscott of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in Hong Kong reveal how the sale will work