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Amendment of monetary policy

Media and investment consortium Castle Transmission has issued the first sterling high-yield, or junk, bond. The £125 million (US$202 million) 9% guaranteed bond is due in 2007.

The Prague office of UK firm Allen & Overy is adding five Czech and UK-qualified lawyers in the next few months. This will bring the total number of lawyers in the office to 12: four Czech advokats and four junior Czech lawyers and four UK-qualifieds. Graham Donnell, managing partner of the office, explains that the growth is in response to an increased workload, particularly in banking and finance.

Last month Arnheim & Co, the UK legal arm of big six accountants Price Waterhouse, announced it had taken the prize scalp of boutique financial services and fund management firm MW Cornish & Co (see International Financial Law Review, June 1997, page 6). However, it is now clear the the scalp is not the prize it first appeared. A third of the lawyers in MW Cornish & Co left the firm in advance of its merger on July 1 1997. Two of the boutique financial services firm's partners have joined Arnheim & Co, but three other lawyers have decided to move elsewhere.

In contrast with Paul Hastings and Cadwalader, Washington's McKenna & Cuneo opened a small London office in March and has yet to announce its presence. The firm is trying to keep the office quiet. Office head Patrick Doyle says: "We have good relationships with many UK firms. We don't want to create the impression that coming to London would disrupt our relationships with London firms." Doyle says that he and his colleague Saleem Malik aim to "keep our heads down – we might announce something in a year or so". The firm will wait until US lawyers have come to London to reassure UK firms as to McKenna & Cuneo's intentions before making an announcement.

The flood of US firms entering or expanding in the London market shows no sign of stopping. Atlanta-based Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP opened an office in June. New York's Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft will open its office at the start of September. Cadwalader is being particularly aggressive in its strategy. Mitchell Sonkin, a member of the firm's management committee, says the firm is aiming to open with 15 or more lawyers , and hopes to expand that to more than 25 within a year. All but a few of them will be UK-qualified, he predicts. The firm's eventual goal is to have an office of between 50 and 75 lawyers, and Sonkin expects that to be achieved within three to four years.

Nationwide Australian firm Blake Dawson Waldron has agreed a merger with Sydney's tax and corporate boutique Rosenblum & Partners. The two firms merged with effect from July 1. The expanded firm will continue to be known as Blake Dawson Waldron. The move takes the firm to over 500 lawyers, with 144 partners.

Ernst and Young and a major US law firm are looking to move into the Canadian market. A source has confirmed that Ernst & Young is one of the firms behind an anonymous recruitment advertisement placed in a Canadian magazine. The advert, placed in The Ontario Reports on May 16, offers salaries up to C$400,000 (US$290,000) in a bid to poach "the best talent in Toronto" and states that "the firm is determined to quickly become a major tier-one firm". A source at ZSA Legal Recruitment, which placed the advert, confirms the agency is working for "a big six accountancy firm and a US law firm". Another source has confirmed market rumours that linked the advertisement to Ernst & Young. The firm has already displayed its interest in the Canadian legal market by developing a relationship with the Canadian law firm Donahue & Co. Rob Lord, vice-chairman of Professional Services for Ernst & Young in Toronto, refuses to confirm or deny the firm's involvement with ZSA. However, he does say that the legal market is of considerable interest to Ernst & Young, and indicates that the firm will make an announcement in the future. The other big six accountancy firms denied any involvement with the advertisement. The identity of the US law firm is unknown.

Law firms in the oil-rich country that rejected EU membership are poised to abandon their traditionally sedate culture and adopt a more aggressive approach. Samantha Wigham reports

Half of Denmark’s traditionally small, family-based firms are set to disappear, according to a recent report. Clare Hepburn looks at how lawyers there are meeting the challenges of liberalization