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Meredith Brown, Giselle Hantz and Scott Budlong of Debevoise & Plimpton, New York and London analyze the conflict between US regulation and the UK’s City Code in the light of the SEC’s cross-border proposals

Under what circumstances may a US plaintiff obtain jurisdiction over a foreign corporation merely because the foreign corporation has a subsidiary incorporated and doing business in the US? This question was recently before the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Jazini v Nissan Motor Company (2nd Cir. 1998).

Siebe and BTR are merging to create the world's largest maker of factory controls and automation equipment. UK engineering company Siebe will effectively acquire rival industrial equipment maker BTR to form a new group, valued at £9.4 billion ($14.7 billion). Linklaters & Alliance corporate partner Steven Turnbull is advising Siebe on the acquisition, with a team including partner Carlton Evans and assistants Angus Rollo, Helen Connolly and David Taylor. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius partner Izzet Sinan, based in Brussels, is advising Siebe on competition law aspects of the transaction. In the US, Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, New York, is advising on US securities law issues as well as regulatory law. Partners Sanford Krieger and Eric Queen lead the team.

Fannie Mae, the leading US mortgage lender, last week announced a $3 billion bond issue. The bonds are five year benchmark notes, due November 14 2003.. It was Fannie Mae's first issue in the five-year market since April.

Allen & Overy has formally announced that its link with French firm Gide Loyrette Nouel is over. The two firms say they remain good friends and will continue to refer work to each other when appropriate. The third firm in the relationship, Loeff Claeys Verbeke, will continue its association with both firms. The link has ended owing to Allen & Overy's wish to build up its own French legal capability as reported in the November issue of IFLR.

UK firm Herbert Smith has opened an office in Bangkok. The office will practise both UK and local law and will enable the firm to consolidate its position in Asia. Heading the office is Henry Usckinski, formerly head of international arbitration at Coudert Brothers in Hong Kong. He will be assisted by Jonathan Pyne, a senior associate in corporate finance and former co-head of investment banking at Thai securities firm Krungthai Thanakit. The firm wants to include Thai expertise in its office and will recruit six to eight lawyers including Thai nationals.

• New York's Brown & Wood has added two lawyers from Baltimore-based Piper & Marbury to form a new Korean practice. Jaemin Park and Jay Cohen both join the firm's Washington DC office as partners. • The Washington DC office of Chicago's Sidley & Austin has added White House associate counsel Karen Popp as a partner. Popp will work in the firm's corporate crime, internal investigations and commercial litigation practices. She has worked at the White House for the last two years, advising congressional and grand jury investigations.

In 1991, the House of Lords held that entering into interest rate swaps was outside the statutory powers of local authorities (Hazell v Hammersmith & Fulham). When banks claimed for restitution of sums paid to local authorities under void swaps, their claims were hindered by the 200 year old principle of law that money paid under a mistake of law is not recoverable. In Kleinwort Benson v Lincoln City Council, the House of Lords has now ruled that payments made under a mistake of law are recoverable. The law lords, by a 3-2 majority, held that:

Freshfields of the UK and Germany's Deringer Tessin Herrmann & Sedemund have signed an agreement to associate formally with 40-lawyer Austrian firm Wolf Theiss & Partners. The firms have agreed to share resources and refer clients where necessary, as well as to exchange lawyers and form cross-firm practice groups. Partner Richard Wolf of Wolf Theiss explains: "We were in talks with Deringer when they were also talking to Freshfields, so we were able to seize the opportunity of doing something with both of them."

Simon Gleeson, head of Richards Butler's financial services unit, is joining Allen & Overy on November 23. He will assist the firm in the development of its financial services group, providing advice on regulatory matters. The firm plans to create a group providing advice on UK regulations in financial services. The group will be built on the back of its banking practice, and, says Allen & Overy, will take a proactive role in the market. Gleeson says: "Regulatory advisers can be swamped with referral work by other parts of the firm. We want to go out in the market and build up direct relations with clients, providing them with a service which they don't get from the corporate guy."