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The Belgian voice recognition group Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products (L&H) has broken off its relationship with Belgian firm Loeff Claeys Verbeke. L&H has endured a crippling last 10 months. Accounting irregularities and a Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation into fraudulent activity has seen the company's share price slump.

Corporations will have to endure mounting legal bills and poorer service unless the rules governing lawyers are changed, a US antitrust organization has warned.

Freehills is hiring Joe Longo, the chief enforcer for the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), who will move to the firm's Sydney office as special counsel in May. Longo has coordinated action for the Commission on financial services and products, markets regulation, takeovers, managed investments and accounting issues. He has also worked closely with international regulators on enforcement activities.

Stephen Mostyn-Williams Stephen Mostyn-Williams has left his post as head of European acquisition finance at Shearman & Sterling to become director of business development at Landwell. Though Mostyn-Williams is credited with the success of Shearmans' acquisition finance practice in Europe, he says that he is not moving over to PricewaterhouseCoopers' correspondent law firm as a rainmaker. "This is absolutely not, 'Oh, Stephen's leaving Shearmans and he's going to start an acquisition finance practice at Landwell'," says Mostyn-Williams.

BBLP Moquet Borde 30, Avenue de Messine

2000 was a bumper year for lawyers in Paris working at the high-end of capital markets and M&A – and not just those at the international firms. Now, as Thomas Williams reports from Paris, it is up to the regulators to make sure restrictive regulations do not stifle the boom

Shareholders in European exchange Easdaq have decided to abandon rules prohibiting individual parties from owning more than 20% of the exchange. Previously, a shareholder with a stake over 20% would have been unable to vote at shareholders meetings. The London Stock Exchange has a 5% cap. The decision, which would allow an individual to take a majority stake in the exchange, comes amid rumours that Easdaq is considering a merger with Nasdaq.

Clifford Chance will soon offer one-stop legal advice in Tokyo thanks to a joint venture with a local Japanese firm. Just over one year after mergers with US firm Roger & Wells and German firm Pünder, Volhard, Weber & Axster, Clifford Chance is tying up with Japan's Tanaka & Akita. However, this latest deal is hardly likely to overshadow the firm's landmark mergers in the US and Germany. When Tanaka & Akita goes ahead with the joint venture on May 1 it will add 10 lawyers to the 28 Clifford Chance already has in its existing Tokyo office. The joint venture will operate from the existing offices of Clifford Chance and will be known as Clifford Chance and Tanaka & Akita (T&A). Never let it be said that lawyers are afraid of change.

Synthetic securitization was recently introduced successfully into Asia in the HK Synthetic MBS issue, which was the first transaction to address the specific issues raised by the Asian capital markets. Patrick Lines and John Elias of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in Hong Kong describe the deal and explore some of the primary structural issues that had to be addressed

The Commodity Futures Modernization Act will revolutionize the regulation of derivatives trading in the US by loosening the ties on larger market users and allowing the SEC to take part. Philip McBride Johnson of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom reviews the Act