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The long-awaited Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) Law was finally passed by parliament in April 1997. The M&A Law is based on EU Directives and is fully harmonized with EU rules.

Four US appeal court rulings on Lloyd’s-related litigation have failed to resolve the issues. The conflict challenges part of the US securities law regime. By David Bernstein of Rogers & Wells, New York

SBC Communications of the US and Telekom Malaysia have formed a consortium to buy a 30% stake in state-owned Telkom South Africa. The deal will cost the consortium US$1.26 billion, and will be the biggest direct foreign investment in South Africa.

Tony Williams, who has been Clifford Chance's Moscow head for the last two years, will shortly relocate to London to begin the transition to managing partner. Williams beat off the challenge of London partner Peter Charlton in the second ballot of the whole partnership and has been given an extended mandate of five years compared to the three year terms served by Geoffrey Howe. "It was decided to change it to five years as it was felt that five years for an initial term was more appropriate for what is now a quite complex job," comments Williams.

Avoiding censure from the European Commission, France has dropped its restrictive practices on Eurofranc management and listings. By Gilles Endréo of Linklaters & Paines, Paris

The Financial Transactions Reporting Act 1996 seeks to combat money-laundering through financial institutions in New Zealand. The Act imposes various obligations on 'financial institutions' (defined widely), including the obligation to report suspicious transactions to the police.

In April 1997, the Response of the Securities and Futures Commission to the Public Consultation on the Review of the Leveraged Foreign Exchange Trading Regulatory System (the Response) to the Consultation Paper on the Review of the Leveraged Foreign Exchange Trading Regulatory System (the Consultation Paper) was released by the Securities and Futures Commission (the SFC).

China promulgated the PRC Anti-dumping and Anti-subsidy Regulations on March 25 1997. The Regulations aim to maintain fair competition in foreign trade and protect the relevant Chinese domestic industries in the event dumped and subsidized 'imported products' cause substantial damage to the established domestic industries, pose a substantial threat of damage, or create substantial obstacles to the establishment of domestic industries.

• UK firm Clifford Chance has appointed 22 partners. Fifteen are in the London office. They are: in finance, David Bickerton, David Eatough, Hilary Evenett, Rachel Kelly, Geeta Khehar, Robert Lee, Gavin Teague and Russell Wells; in property, Andrew Forryan; in corporate, Mark Poulton and David Pudge; in contentious, Rob Lambert and Rae Lindsay; in tax, Michael Wistow, and in tax, pensions and employment, Bruce Hedley. The Hong Kong office has gained three partners: Paul Kruger and Robert Trefney (finance) and Philip Rapp (China). Simon Clinton and Thierry Schoen become corporate partners in Singapore and Paris respectively. Juan Jose Lavilla becomes an administrative law partner in Madrid. Mark Huddlestone has been made finance partner in Amsterdam.

Despite the growing economy, Finland’s lawyers find there is not enough work to go round. Firms are being forced to refocus and reassess their business. Clare Hepburn reports