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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.

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.

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

The cabinet has recently approved a draft Bill, which will now go before parliament, enabling the government to adopt the necessary provisions for the replacement of the lira by the Euro.

A draft EU Directive which would increase the freedom of qualified EU lawyers to establish themselves and offer legal services in any member state has taken another step towards legislation. The proposed Directive would allow lawyers to practise permanently and without restriction, under their original professional title, in any EU member state, on the same basis as the host country's own lawyers. All that would be required would be registration with the bar or other relevant authority in the host state, on the same basis as in the home country. In addition, the Directive aims to make it easier to acquire the relevant professional title in the host country. Member states will have to acknowledge the professional experience foreign lawyers have gained in their jurisdiction.

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.

Dutch firm Houthoff has joined law firm association the Conference of European Lawyers. The firm is thereby linked with Liedekerke Wolters Waelbroeck & Kirkpatrick in Brussels, France's Siméon & Associés and German firm Wessing Berenberg-Gossler Zimmermann Lange. According to Houthoff's chairman, Jan-Mark Dingemans,there were a number of motives for the move. "The main one was the long-standing wish to have our own office in Brussels. We had one there 15 years ago, but we closed it down," he says. Houthoff left the Denton International group of firms last December. Dingemans says: "The Denton Hall concept did not work. There was no quarrel; we left on friendly terms."

A few recent securitization transactions have shown the benefits of this financing method. Recent reforms make it more attractive. By Sandrine Hirsch and Koen Byttebier of Stibbe Simont Monahan Duhot, Brussels

Argentine Law 24597 (the Registration Law), published in the Official Gazette on November 22 1995, established that all securities issued by Argentine private sector issuers should be converted to non-endorsable registered form and that no bearer securities should be issued by Argentine private issuers thereafter.

The government of Dubai recently issued Regulation No. 2 of 1997, setting forth guidelines to be used by branches of foreign banks in calculating income tax due to the government of Dubai from taxable income arising from the conduct of business in the Emirate of Dubai.