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Beijing’s latest attempt at propping up the country’s plummeting stock markets lasted just seven days. Here's how it played out

Catherine Tsang The new year marked a new start for a number of lawyers in Hong Kong. MAYER BROWN JSM, looking to build on its recent association with PRC firm Jingtian & Gongcheng, added a new partner in the special administrative region. Nicholas Chan – an expert on Hong Kong's IPO market – joined from Sidley Austin where he was a partner in its corporate finance group. WHITE & CASE also hired in Hong Kong, adding partner Catherine Tsang from Paul Hastings to strengthen its corporate and capital markets capabilities. ASHURST brought in partner Joshua Cole from King & Wood Mallesons to focus on Asian M&A; and UK firm INCE & CO added Balbir Bindra from CEC North Star Energy to reinforce its Asia transactional practice. Also in Hong Kong, OLSWANG established a non-exclusive association with local firm HALDANES to expand its media advisory, regulatory and transactional expertise.

Further regulatory guidance is needed to unleash China’s new market. In the meantime, counsel are busy speculating over its biggest driving force to-date

Only 10% of some 2,500 major listed domestic companies have fully complied with Japan's first corporate governance code, introduced last June, according to counsel in the country.

The UK's new mandatory disclosure rules for unlisted companies are at best another compliance hoop to jump through. But at their worst, they could be a deterrent to investment.

What underpins any FMI reforms Financial regulators in Asia have called for the need to establish common regulatory infrastructure for the region's capital markets, rather than simply importing western regulatory regimes.

This year’s hostile tactics look a lot less aggressive than in 2015 Hostile takeovers could rise in 2016, as last year's mega deals are replaced by smaller consolidations and activist shareholders continuing to push boards into action.

Olivier Vermeulen Gabrielle Wong Benjamin Büttner It has been a turbulent 12 months for the Baltics, and on January 1 there was yet another twist in the legal sector's tale. The remaining lawyers from Borenius – following the departure of a team of 13 in Lithuania to Sorainen in September – across all three countries broke their ties with the Helsinki-based firm and joined together with Cobalt. This created the largest Baltic firm by headcount – around 180 lawyers – and severed the final formal tie between a Nordic firm and the Baltics.

Cyprus takes home the NPL prize The Cypriot government has passed a suite of legislative reforms in an attempt to confront the non-performing loan (NPL) problem plaguing its economy.

Counsel in China have high hopes for the proposed overhaul of the country's credit assessment system, but stress that a host of other regulatory issues need to be ironed out, particularly surrounding wealth management.