Quindell shareholders agree to sell to Slater & Gordon
Shareholders of Quindell have voted in favour of the sale of its professional services business to Australia’s Slater & Gordon. While the approval of the deal marks a major step forward there are still regulatory hurdles. The UK’s Solicitors Regulation Authority and Financial Conduct Authority will have to approve the takeover. Meanwhile one shareholder of Quindell, Quob Park Estates which is run by a former chairman of the company, has said on its website that the price being paid is too cheap. Slaters is paying AU$1.2 billion.
International law firm promotes 22 to partner, 40 per cent women
Allen & Overy has announced 22 promotions to partner and says it shows its commitment to diversity. Forty per cent of the new partners are women and the firm’s total female partner count is 17 per cent. The promotions are across 12 offices in 11 countries and six different practice areas. Sixty-eight per cent of the new partners are from outside the UK. In Asia-Pac there is just one, banking specialist Fiona Cumming in Hong Kong. The promotions take effect from May 1 2015.
Women lawyers feel unsafe in India’s Supreme Court
India’s female lawyers have raised concern with the country’s Chief Justice over the conditions they face in the Supreme Court. The court is so overcrowded that women lawyers frequently face unpleasant treatment in the throng of the corridors especially on the busiest days of Monday and Friday. Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) secretary Aishwarya Bhati told
India Today: "The situation is so bad that when we rush from one court to another, we have to hold a file in front of us as a shield to protect ourselves as we meander our way through congested corridors or from the rear of a court to the arguing desk." The issue is the volume of cases being heard in the building, which was built to hold up to 1,000 lawyers and their clients every day but is often packed with up to 10,000.
Globalaw prepares for Tokyo conference
This week dozens of lawyers from 40 jurisdictions will be gathering in Tokyo for the Globalaw Asia-Pacific Regional Meeting. Among the topics on the agenda for this year’s conference, which is being hosted by Chuo Sogo Law Office; how Japanese firms select law firms globally, cultural differences across the region and investment and development in Asia-Pacific.
