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US partners' compensation increased by 3.56% in 1996, and associates compensation was boosted by 4.4%, in an economy where inflation was only 2.7%. These are the most striking results of the latest annual survey of law firm economics published by law firm consultants Altman Weil Pensa.

International Financial Law Review understands that Bureau Francis Lefebvre and Briones, Alonso & Martin, leading firms, particularly in the tax field, in France and Spain respectively, have agreed a merger of their Spanish operations. The two will link formally on October 1 1997. The move is likely to be seen as a defensive reaction to the J&A Garrigues/Arthur Andersen merger in Spain, which puts particular pressure on tax firms. A full report on this merger will appear in the October issue of the magazine.

Coudert Brothers has announced it is to incorporate Montreal firm McDougall, Caron into its international network. The move into Canada is rare for an international US law firm and is the first US foray into Quebec. The firm has opened new offices in Berlin, St Petersburg and Denver in the last two years.

French firm Thomas & Associés, with 50 lawyers, has announced it will merge with 220-lawyer firm Deloitte et Touche Juridique et Fiscal, part of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu International, on September 1.

The short-term prospects for foreign lawyers in the Japanese legal market are addressed in an official report due out this year. Rob Dwyer listens to both sides of an increasingly acrimonious debate about the place of international firms in a Japan undergoing its financial ‘big bang’

Meighen Demers, Toronto

A major reform of Japanese regulations, allowing companies to award share options to directors, moves regulation closer into line with the US and Europe. By Junko Mori of Asahi Law Offices, Tokyo

In line with the recently published recommendations on the Private Finance Initiative (PFI), the UK government is to set up a Treasury Taskforce to help get projects off the ground. By Nicholas Bliss of Freshfields, London

New tax incentives in the 1997 Budget approved by Parliament in July focused mainly on the financial sector. Effective for five years from assessment year 1998, they will be:

A recent case reaffirms the Australian principle that lenders are entitled to calculate losses on a no-transaction basis after some negligent valuations, despite conflicting English decisions. By Francesca Rush of Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Brisbane