Asia-Pac turnover soars at international firm
International law firm Kennedys has reported a 7 per cent rise in its global turnover for 2015/16 (£139 million / AU$252 million) helped by a surge in its Asia Pacific operations.
Singapore saw a 144 per cent rise in turnover to AU$ 14.6 million with strong growth in the aviation practice and Kennedys’ joint venture with local firm Legal Solutions LLC. There was also a good performance in Hong Kong with revenue up 33 per cent.
The firm also expanded its global footprint with new offices in Russia and Denmark, and formed associations in Norway, Sweden and Argentina.
KWM promotes a dozen to partner in Australia
King & Wood Mallesons has promoted 38 lawyers to its partnership with the majority based in Asia Pacific. There were 20 promotions for the firm’s Chinese offices, 12 in Australia and a total of 6 in the US, Europe and Middle East.
The new Australian-based partners, effective 1
st July, are:
- Matthew Coull - Mergers & Acquisitions / Private Equity, Sydney
- Jo Dodd - Banking & Finance, Sydney
- Chris Dynon - Banking & Finance, Melbourne
- John Eagleton - Banking & Finance, Sydney
- Shannon Etwell - Projects & Real Estate, Brisbane
- Rebecca Finkelstein - Projects & Real Estate, Sydney
- Annabel Griffin - Mergers & Acquisitions / Private Equity, Canberra
- Elizabeth Hundt Russell - Banking & Finance, Sydney
- Emily Masters - Projects & Real Estate, Melbourne
- Henrik Moritz - Mergers & Acquisitions / Private Equity, Sydney
- Rod Smythe - Projects & Real Estate, Sydney
- James Wang - Dispute Resolution, Perth
White & Case expands international footprint
White & Case is opening a new office in Egypt, expanding its Middle East and North Africa practice, following 15 years serving clients in the region. The new Cairo office is expected to be open by October and will be operated in association with local firm MHR & partners.
The move will enable White & Case to broaden its scope for high end work including project finance, private equity, corporate/M&A and debt and equity capital markets.
Robot lawyer defeats 160,000 parking penalties
An artificial intelligence ‘lawyer’ created by a 19-year old student has successfully contested more than 160,000 parking penalties in London and New York.
Joshua Browder, born in the UK but studying at Stanford University in California, taught himself coding and created DoNotPay.
The chatbot-style ‘robot’ lawyer asks a series of questions of those hit with a parking penalty to ascertain whether the fines were legally justified. Out of 250,000 cases it has won 160,000 making a 64 per cent success rate.
