North Korea’s only foreign firm suspended after 12 years

North Korea’s only foreign firm suspended after 12 years
The first and only foreign law firm in North Korea has decided to suspend services in the country citing “business and geopolitical principles.”

Reuters reports that Hay, Kalb & Associates is a joint venture between British-French citizen Michael Hay and the North Korean State. It has been operating for 12 years this month but tensions between Pyongyang and other nations have become increasingly strained.

Sanctions on North Korea imposed by the United Nations have led to increased difficulties for the law firm’s clients, mostly foreign investors.
Hay says he will maintain an office in North Korea but that services are suspended from midnight Monday (Aug. 1) and will be officially suspended from Aug. 14.
 
Procedural changes at Singapore International Arbitration Centre
The procedural rules of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre have been amended for the first time in three years.

In a client note from law firm Greenberg Traurig it notes that the changes, effective 1^st August 2016, are not a fundamental overhaul but bring the SIAC in line with developments in international arbitration practice.

Among the new rules is provision for providing two options for disputes involving multiple contracts and there is now the ability for parties to consolidate two or more SIAC cases into one single case.

The full rules can be found at the SIAC website.
 
International firm expands in Latin America
Just two weeks after it announced new offices in Brazil and Peru, international law firm Kennedys has further expanded its presence in Latin America.

The new offices in Chile and Colombia extends the firm’s presence in Latin America to four offices, three formal associations and various relationships. It also brings the firm’s worldwide footprint to 26 international offices and 12 formal associations.
 
Lawyer become YouTube hit as “The Texas Law Hawk”
Lawyers tend to be fairly conservative when it comes to promoting their services but there are always exceptions.

Take Bryan Wilson, criminal lawyer in Texas and self-styled “Texan Law Hawk” whose superhero-style commercials have become viral hits in YouTube.

With his loud and brash catchphrase of “someone just called me” Wilson has already won a number of accolades including a US law magazine’s 2015 Lawyer of the Year Award for showing that “lawyers can have a sense of humour.”

While some may say Wilson’s style is not befitting of the legal profession, he’s certainly getting noticed!