Corrs hires respected litigator from HSF

Bronwyn Lincoln has been hired by Corrs Chambers Westgarth, the seventh new partner appointment so far this year. Lincoln joins the firm’s litigation and dispute resolution practice from Herbert Smith Freehills and will be based in Melbourne.
 
Counsel promotions for 35 at A&O
Allen & Overy has promoted 35 lawyers to counsel across its international offices. In Asia-Pacific there are XXX new counsel: Sarah Wilson (banking) in Beijing; Benjamin Crawford (corporate) and Jaclyn Yeap (ICM) in Hong Kong; Frederic Draps and Desi Dwitiasrini (both banking) in Jakarta; James Mythen (corporate) in Singapore; and Tokutaka Ito (corporate) in Tokyo.
 
Swiss law firm launches in Tehran
Another international law firm has opened an office in Iran. Swiss-based firm Python & Peter, which also has an office in Tokyo, has expanded into Tehran following the lifting of sanctions. CMS opened an office in Iran earlier this year and Asia-based firm Colibri Law opened an office in association with local firm Gheidi & Associates last month.
 
Why are one company’s lawyers trained to climb telephone poles?
Lawyers solve problems but at one major telecoms company that can be a very hands-on role. US firm Verizon has been hit by a workers’ strike which has left it with a severely diminished engineering team. The solution? Training other employees to step in to the breach – and that includes the legal team.
According to Quartz.com lawyers are joining accountants, marketers and HR specialists in carrying out customer-facing roles including installations. A spokesman for Verizon said that the lawyers are doing a good job “given the circumstances”.
 
Lawsuit could end photo-tagging
Millions of Facebook users use its photo-tagging feature to highlight those who appear in images they post, but a lawsuit claims that it’s illegal. A judge in Illinois has dismissed a petition from Facebook to have the case thrown out.
The lawsuit claims that a person’s ‘faceprint’ is protected under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act and may not be collected without the person’s consent.
Facebook argues that its data policy covers the use of photo-tagging but Verve.com reports that it is not clear whether the disclosure amounts to consent for legal purposes.