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The dissolution of the international partnership between Canadian firms Ogilvy Renault and Osler Hoskin & Harcourt was coolly calculated many months in advance by Ogilvy. This much is revealed by an Ogilvy Renault internal memo dating from 1995 obtained by International Financial Law Review which discusses the future of a potential independent Ogilvy Renault office in London. The official reason given by both firms for the split in London in February 1996 was that Ogilvy Renault had announced it was to open an office in Toronto in the summer of 1996. However, the memo states that in mid-1995 Ogilvy Renault was "considering various alternatives" to its arrangements with Osler Hoskin. The memo was addressed by then managing partner of the London office, Michael Fortier (now based in Montreal), to managing partner Raymond Crevier.

• UK firm Linklaters & Paines has added two partners. On December 1, US-qualified Cecil Quillen was promoted from senior associate to partner in the firm's US securities team in New York. The firm has also attracted the services of Fiona Rice, a local partner in the Singapore office of rival Allen & Overy.

• Clifford Chance's London office has lost its head of corporate finance, Peter Brooks. Brooks has left to become general counsel for one of his clients, Deutsche Morgan Grenfell. He has worked at Clifford Chance for 28 years.

The contract for Laibin B, China's first 100% wholly foreign-owned build-operate-transfer (BOT) power plant, was formally agreed in Beijing on November 11 1996. Under the HK$4.57 billion (US$600 million) contract, GEC Alsthom, an Anglo-French engineering group, and Electricite de France (EDF) will jointly control the company undertaking the contract. EDF will hold a 60% stake and GEC, 40%. The project is scheduled to be completed sometime after 1999, whereupon EDF and GEC will operate the power plant to recoup their investment before the power plant reverts to the Guanxi government at the end of the term.

The single market has promoted growth, employment and competition, but the EU still has some way to go towards meeting the target of creating a set of truly common rules. This is the theme of a major new report to be presented by the Commission at the next European Council meeting in December. The report took two years to complete and gives an overview of the impact and effectiveness of the single market since its inception nearly four years ago.

The concept of lending money is relevant to a number of pieces of legislation in Australia and can be either the trigger for the imposition of restrictions or the basis of exemptions.

The regulatory reforms to the economic and tax regime of the Canary Islands are still awaiting approval by the Spanish authorities. When the process, which started in 1991, is finally completed, the Canary Islands Special Zone will take effect within the framework of the EU, and will remain operative until at least the year 2024. One of its objectives is the creation and development of a Canary Islands financial market.

A bill on the legislative framework for the National Securities Centre was recently published by the Finnish government. Under the proposal, legislation on the book-entry securities system would also be amended.

Decree 1295 of 1996, enacted by the Colombian Government on July 24, approved several modifications to the international investment regime. The decree simplifies and expedites procedures and requirements in this area.

Comparing the growth of the main foreign offices of the New York and London firms, Richard Forster identifies strategies that work and examines the prospects for a merged, truly global law firm