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Maurizia Angelo Comneno, Director of the legal department at Credito Italiano, Milan, talks to Barbara Galli

New York-based LeBoeuf Lamb Greene & MacRae has announced the opening of two new foreign offices, in Paris and Sao Paulo. In Paris, LeBoeuf has taken over the French practice of Donovan Leisure Newton & Irvine. Donovan has been struggling for survival since Californian rival Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe poached two-thirds of its lawyers in April, after an unsuccessful attempt to merge. James Johnson, managing partner of LeBoeuf's London office comments: "Donovan's disruption provided us with a great opportunity to get a fine office, already familiar with an American firm, and lawyers which many of us already knew." Former Donovan partners René de Monseignat, Alain de Foucaud and Reid Feldman have been made partners in LeBoeuf, with Laurent Moury and Olivier Laude joining as counsel. US partner Douglas Hawes will move to Paris to organize the integration of the office into LeBoeuf's international network. The office will also have eight associates and it will maintain its specialization in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Deputy managing partner of the office, Alain de Foucaud, explains: "LeBoeuf is an important firm with a solid reputation in the US, and was willing to expand across Europe and internationally. The team of avocats has worked together for the past three years and we wanted to keep it intact and preserve our culture. It is easier this way because there are fewer changes both for the clients and for our lawyers." In Sao Paulo, local firm Tavares Guerreiro Advogados has affiliated with LeBoeuf.

The latest WTO negotiations have brought financial services under international discipline for the first time, adding an essential missing piece to GATS. By Peter Morrison* of Clifford Chance, London

The International Securities Market Association (ISMA) has complained to the EU Banking Federation over its proposal for a European master agreement for repo transactions. ISMA has sponsored its own master agreement the Global Master Repurchase Agreement (GMRA) since 1992 supported by legal opinions from counsel in 30 countries in order to establish a global standard. It argues that an EU agreement is unnecessary and likely to create confusion in the repo market. Thomas Hunzinker, general counsel to ISMA in Zurich, says the draft proposal goes beyond standardizing the different agreements used for domestic transactions in the EU. "We would not be concerned with the attempt by the Federation to standardize national agreements and bring them more into line with European standards but we are concerned if what they are trying to do is to undermine or replace the GMRA," says Hunzinker. "It very clearly refers to a standard document that could be used for cross-border transactions within the EU and that raised a few eyebrows." Hunzinker has tried to clarify the scope of the proposal with representatives of the Banking Federation but has received no reply from the secretary general in Brussels nor from the domestic banking federations which are constituent members. Secretary general of the Federation Nicolaus Bömcke refused to return calls.

Linklaters & Alliance Linklaters & Paines (UK):

New legislation in Australia removes doubts as to the enforceability of netting in insolvency. It should boost local financial institutions. By John Stumbles and Edward Kerr of Mallesons Stephen Jaques, Sydney

High-yield debt has hit the European market running particularly for issues refinancing acquisition debt. In a two part article, IFLR presents a round table of practitioners, investment bankers and investors to discuss some of the issues that the European market has brought to the US model

The Commission has proposed that the EU Directive on money laundering be extended to activities and professions outside the financial services sector, and that the range of suspicious transactions to which it applies should be broadened to cover the proceeds of serious crimes other than just drug trafficking. The Directive obliges all credit and financial institutions to seek identification of all of their customers entering into a business relationship when a single transaction or series of linked transactions exceed Ecu15,000 (US$16,600) or, even where this threshold is not met, where money laundering is suspected.

In the second of his series considering possible changes to bond documentation to ease sovereign debt problems, Lee C Buchheit of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, New York, considers the majority action clause

The Supreme Court of Mexico is reviewing a controversy, Contradiccion de tesis 2/98 y 11/98, that challenges the enforceability of arrangements under which Mexican banks have imposed charges for interest on unpaid interest. The resolution of this matter will affect the many legal disputes which arose in 1995 after the Mexican peso devaluation and the ensuing spike in interest rates (up to 100%) and could have serious financial consequences for an already troubled banking sector.