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The government of Panama has sold a 49% stake in the country's national telephone company, Intel, in central America's first telecoms privatization. UK telecoms company Cable & Wireless paid US$632 million in cash for the stake, beating rival bidder GTE Corporation of Stamford.

Section 6 of Singapore's Civil Law Act nullifies gaming contracts and prohibits the recovery of any wagering prize. It remains unclear as to whether a swap agreement is a gaming contact within the meaning of the Act and hence invalid under Singapore law.

UK firm Simmons & Simmons has effectively taken over its Italian associate firm, Grippo e Associati, based in Milan & Rome. The firms have operated together under the name Grippo, Associati e Simmons & Simmons since May 1993. The former managing partner of Simmons & Simmons, Alasdair Neil, has taken up the role of managing director of the Italian offices and is moving to Milan shortly. He says: "We chose to do this because the arrangement was working so well." The new name of the firm will be Simmons & Simmons Grippo. The move follows Clifford Chance's decision to bring some of its Italian partners into the UK partnership, and Freshfields opening Italian offices. However Neil denies it is a way of rewarding the Italian lawyers. "It is a way of taking things to their logical conclusion and demonstrates that they have fully become a part of Simmons & Simmons." Senior partner of the Italian offices, Eugenio Grippo, explains: "The original office was a joint venture, in which Simmons had a smaller interest than Grippo e Associati. Now the Italian group is part and parcel of Simmons & Simmons." The offices will retain his name as long as he stays with the firm, and also, he says, "to remind our clients that we are an Italian firm although we have become more international". As a result of the merger, three Italian partners become partners in Simmons & Simmons: Bruno Gattai, Filippo Pingue and Stefano Speroni. Grippo is already a partner of the UK firm.

US firms are putting less weight on lawyer billings and are using more objective criteria to determine partner compensation, according to a survey report published by consultants Altman Weil Pensa. The firm's previous survey of this sort, in 1993, found that personal fees billed was the most important factor in calculating lawyers' compensation. The new survey has found that business origination has become the most significant determinant.

Big six accounting firm Price Waterhouse launched a Russian law firm in early June. The firm, called, snappily, Price Waterhouse Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Law Offices, will be primarily staffed by Russians and in due course managed by Russian lawyer partners. "This is a natural extension of Price Waterhouse's presence in the Russian market," says Emory Kesteloot, the tax and legal partner responsible for coordinating the creation of the law firm. "We expect to be among the top Russian law firms. To this end we have appointed two of the most experienced Western legal specialists to lead and develop the practice as resident partners in Moscow." The two are: Professor WE Butler and Maryann Gashi-Butler.

A report on company law commissioned by the Hong Kong government calls for radical streamlining and a move away from British legislative models. By Cally Jordan of Stikeman, Elliott, Hong Kong

The commission considering financial regulation in Australia has recommended a new format for regulation, aimed at boosting financial services competition. By Don Harding of Freehill Hollingdale & Page, Sydney

Mireille Quirina, chief counsel Europe for Du Pont, talks to Diana Bentley

The first International Financial Law Review survey of the mergers and acquisitions market has identified the leading firms advising on deals worth US$1 billion or more. By Richard Forster

The recent fuss over different levels of disclosure in the US and UK by British Telecom is an example of the problems companies with multiple listings are open to. By Anthony J Herbert of Allen & Overy, London