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The Supreme Court has been working with the Singapore Academy of Law to promote the resolution of disputes by way of mediation. Cases considered suitable for mediation have been identified by the Supreme Court and, with the parties' consent, referred to the Commercial Mediation Service of the Singapore Academy of Law. The promotion of the use of mediation is another extension of the judiciary's efforts to encourage litigants to settle their disputes amicably.

Coudert Brothers in Moscow has added six lawyers, including one poached from French firm Gide Loyrette Nouel. Hugues de Pommereau was at Gide in Moscow for 2 years. He will work on direct investment into Russia by French clients. Bruce Bean, managing partner of the office, says: "Around 10% of our business is for French-speaking companies, and although we have lawyers fluent in French here, Hugues is the first Frenchman." Also joining the firm as associates are: Christian Moore, James Christiansen, Pavel Bakoulev, Igor Marmalidi and Jennifer Brenner. The appointments bring the total number of lawyers in the office to 16. "Business is up tremendously since last November," says Bean. "Last year the Russian equity markets left the Dow in the dust, and this year they are doing it again. Investors have got over their shyness." Bean expects to expand to 30 lawyers by the end of the year.

Dallas-based Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP opened an office in London at the end of April. At the moment staffed by four lawyers, including former Linklaters & Paines senior partner John Edwards, the office will concentrate on capital markets work. According to office managing partner Keith Hughes, this is not a new development for the firm. "We were already here, we are only adding the office to complement our existing presence. We have been doing capital markets transactions in London for several years now," he says.

Grand Metropolitan and Guinness are merging to form GMG Brands, the world's largest spirits and wine group. The group will be worth around £23.8 billion (US$38.6 billion), but the merger has been challenged by rival drinks companies who believe it is anti-competitive.

The piecemeal reforms of US banking regulations do open genuine opportunities to foreign banks. Connie M Friesen and David Nissenbaum of Richards & O’Neil, LLP, New York, explain

‘Rogue’ traders are an inevitable price paid by the markets for their cultivation of immature and selfish behaviour. By Eric C Bettelheim of Mayer, Brown & Platt, London

Freshfields has announced the appointment of a second partner in its London US securities group and is set to complete its first US registered securities deal. Don Guiney joins the US securities group from Brobeck Hale and Dorr, the London operation of Boston firm Hale and Dorr and California's Brobeck Phleger & Harrison. "What I did for Brobeck Hale was to establish their joint venture office [in 1990] with a credible securities practice operating for both underwriters and issuers," explains Guiney. "But Freshfields offered the challenge and excitement of working to build a securities practice in the global market."

International commercial arbitration in China and Hong Kong after July 1997 remains an area of law full of uncertainties. Simon G Zinger of Graham & James LLP, San Francisco, looks at the options for parties to disputes

Lloyd's litigation

The debt crisis of the 1980s may be over, but the litigation arising from the various sovereign defaults is not. The holding of a recent case, Pravin Banker Associates v Banco Popular Del Peru, 1997 WL 134390 (2nd Cir NY), may have serious repercussions for rescheduling sovereign debt.