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The Arbitration and Mediation Centre of the Chamber of Commerce of Santiago has proved to be an efficient alternative for the resolution of business disputes in Chile. Around 25 disputes were submitted to the Centre in 1995 and 1996 and the majority were resolved by agreement of the parties with the participation of the arbitrators. Typically, the first phase of arbitration consists of a conciliation effort on the part of the arbitrator exploring alternatives to a negotiated settlement.

In the first survey to consider the Medium-Term Note (MTN) market for law firms, IFLRev has identified the leading firms in establishing new programmes and in making drawdowns. The same three names keep coming up. By Richard Forster and Samantha Wigham

Telecommunications provider Compañía Anónima Nacional Teléfonos de Venezuela (CANTV) issued US$200 million in Yankee bonds through its Cayman Islands subsidiary CANTV Finance. This is the first issuance of Yankee bonds by a Venezuelan corporation. Chase Securities acted as lead underwriter, with Goldman Sachs as co-manager.

Canadian firm Tory Tory DesLauriers & Binnington has closed its Hong Kong office after five years. The move follows the departure of partner Melissa Thomas to UK rival Freshfields.

• US firm Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly has opened an office in Geneva. Jean Russotto, managing partner in the firm's Brussels office, will work out of the office of Swiss firm Cabinet Mayor in Geneva. The new office is to complement the work the firm does in Brussels in financial services, corporate, trade and tax law.

Competition is intensifying in the emerging markets of south-east Asia. Law firms are working hard to keep up with the growth and development of the economies. Paul Lee reports

The latest offshore exchange to open will be of particular interest to mutual funds formed but not listed in the Caribbean tax-free jurisdiction. By Chris Narborough and Andrew Kidd of Truman Bodden & Company, Grand Cayman

UK firm Lovell White Durrant's Paris office has gained a partner and two senior associates, and expects to announce two further appointments soon. At the same time, it loses a lawyer to rival Norton Rose. Lovell White partner Milan Chromocek moves from Prague to boost the intellectual property practice in Paris. Philippe Thomas, senior associate at local firm JC Goldsmith, becomes senior associate at Lovell White. He specializes in commercial law. Serge Cohen joins from US firm Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton in Paris, where he was a senior associate specializing in mergers and acquisitions.

"The accountants have lost the first round," says Dolph Stuyling de Lange, general secretary of Dutch/Belgian firm Loeff Claeys Verbeke. On February 7 the District Court of Amsterdam upheld the Dutch bar rules banning mergers between accounting and law firms.

Spanish firms J & A Garrigues and Arthur Andersen ALT have completed their merger with partners approving the new partnership on January 31 1997. The firm will be known as J & A Garrigues Andersen with Andersen staff relocating to Garrigues' offices as much for symbolic as practical reasons. "We want to differentiate them clearly and move them away from where they were," comments Ramon Lladó, partner from the former J & A Garrigues.