1.中国收入最高的前30家精英律所。根据TheLawyer的调查，中国总收入最高的律所有些却在律师人均收入上较低。从总收入上来看，大成、金杜和中伦排名前三，但在律师人均收入（RPL）排名上却低于天同（诉讼精品所）、君合（魔圈司力达的好伙伴）以及通力（上海银行和金融专业所）。大成（中国）、金杜（中国）和中伦2015年的总收入分别达到29亿元、21亿元和20亿元（均为人民币），并进一步拉大与其他收入前30名律所的差距。锦天城、国浩和盈科均实现了约13亿人民币的收入，分别排名第四、第五和第六；而君合收入增长了17%达到11.7亿人民币，排名第七；前十剩下的包括德恒、方达和竞天公诚。 

 

 

China Elite: Top 30 Chinese firms' financial results revealed

The highest-grossing law firms in China produce some of the lowest revenues per lawyer in the country, exclusive research by The Lawyer has found.

Dentons, King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) and Zhong Lung have emerged as the top three firms in China by total revenue, but the trio are dominated in the revenue per lawyer (RPL) rankings by litigation boutique Tiantong & Partners, Slaughter and May best friend JunHe, and Shanghai banking and finance specialist Llinks.

The research shows that Dentons, KWM and Zhong Lun continue to be the highest-grossing firms in China, with 2015 annual turnover reaching RMB2.9bn (?305m), RMB2.1bn (?221m) and RMB2bn (?210m) respectively.

The trio has significantly widened the gap between them and the rest of the top 30 Chinese firms in the last year.

Large national firms AllBright, Grandall and Yingke all achieved similar revenues of RMB1.3bn (?136.5m) in 2015, ranking fourth, fifth and sixth by revenue.

Meanwhile Slaughter and May best friend JunHe claimed seventh place, having achieved a 17 per cent year-on-year increase to RMB1.17bn (RMB122.9m). The firm is then followed by DeHeng, Fangda Partners and Mayer Brown's Chinese ally Jingtian & Gongcheng, which complete the top 10 group. (The Lawyer)

2. 富时100指数公司为诉讼支出拨出310亿英镑，英国史密夫斐尔律师事务所成为最大赢家之一。汤森路透的新研究发现，在过去12个月里，富时100指数的大公司拨出了313亿英镑用于支付诉讼律师费用账单、赔偿和监管罚款。其中银行最多，总计金额约174亿英镑，比上一年增长了27%，占到全部金额的56%。包括伦敦银行同业拆借利率（Libor）和外汇操纵、支付保障保险造假等主要法律和监管争议仍然对英国银行的法律成本产生了重大影响。其次是油气和矿业公司，去年的法律债务支出达到79亿美元，其中石油公司主要的一大块是BP因2010年墨西哥湾漏油事件和解而发生的法律成本。在法律成本和索赔的上升中，英国史密夫斐尔律师事务所是最大的赢家之一。根据The Lawyer Market Intelligence的数据显示，在2015年英国高等法院和上诉法院案件中，史密夫斐尔是富时100公司聘用最多的一家律所。去年The Lawyer透露，史密夫斐尔在各业务领域提供法律服务的富时100公司客户达到39家，比任何一家其他律所都多。英国霍金路伟国际律师事务所、Addleshaw Goddard律师事务所、英国博闻律师事务所、英国其礼律师事务所、英国欧华律师事务所和英国诺顿罗氏富布莱特律师事务所也在去年为富时100公司提供了大量案件的法律服务。

HSF biggest winner as FTSE 100 set aside ?31bn for litigation bills

The FTSE 100 set aside ?31.3bn in the last 12 months to pay litigation legal bills, compensation and regulatory fines, new research by Thomson Reuters has found.

Banks paid out the most, accounting for 56 per cent of the total figure - around ?17.4bn - representing a 27 per cent increase on the previous year.

Major legal and regulatory disputes including Libor and Forex manipulation and PPI mis-selling continued to have a significant impact on UK banks' legal costs.

Oil and gas and mining companies came in second, paying ?7.9bn in legal liabilities in the last year. BP's legal costs on the 2010 Deepwater Horizon crisis continued to grow following its 2015 settlement, accounting for a major chunk of all FTSE 100 oil businesses' legal spend.

Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) was one of the biggest winners from the uptick in legal costs and claims.

Data from The Lawyer Market Intelligence (LMI) revealed HSF as the most popular adviser to FTSE 100 companies on High Court and Court of Appeal cases in 2015.

Last year The Lawyer revealed that HSF currently advises 39 FTSE 100 companies in total across all practice areas, more than any other firm.

Hogan Lovells, Addleshaw Goddard, Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP), Clyde & Co, DLA Piper and Norton Rose Fulbright also advised on a host of cases for the FTSE 100 last year. (The Lawyer)

3. 全球并购交易金额下降50%，Wachtell占据律所排行榜首。根据汤森路透的数据显示，从2016年开始到现在，英国并购交易的合计金额为1955亿美元，而去年同期为3541亿美元。不仅英国并购交易金额下降了45%，欧洲并购交易金额也下降了25%，从9190亿美元降至7340亿美元。美国市场同样也在衰退，比去年同期下降了39%。而全球交易金额更是比去年下降了近50%，尽管已宣布交易的总共数量基本持平在3万件。今年到现在为止，美国Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz律师事务所超过了美国苏利文·克伦威尔律师事务所，位居全球并购排行的榜首。Wachtell为包括孟山都与拜耳、江森自控与泰科在内的72笔并购提供法律咨询，总计金额达到3366亿美元，超过苏利文的3357亿美元。美国伟凯律师事务所和美国达维律师事务所仍然排在前五名，不过美国盛信律师事务所略有下滑，被美国世达律师事务所赶超。

 

Global M&A deal value drops 50% but Wachtell tops rankings

According to data from Thomson Reuters, the combined value of UK M&A deals between the start of 2016 and now stood at $195.5bn. This compares to $354.1bn at the same point last year.

While the value of UK M&A deals has dropped by 45 per cent this year, the value of European M&A deals has fallen by 25 per cent from $919bn to $734bn.

The US market has also decline, down 39 per cent on this time last year. Globally deal value has fallen nearly 50 per cent compared to last year, despite the same number of deals being announced at around 30,000 in total.

Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz takes the crown at the top of the global M&A rankings so far this year, overtaking Sullivan & Cromwell.

US corporate heavyweight Wachtell advised on 72 deals including Monsanto and Bayer, as well as Johnson Controls' merger with Tyco. Wachtell's transactions amounted to a deal value of $336.6bn ahead of Sullivan's total of $335.7bn.

White & Case and Davis Polk remain in the top five, although Simpson Thacher & Bartlett has dropped slightly making way for Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom. White & Case has advised on a large number of deals - a total of 204 - while Sullivan & Cromwell still leads the tables in terms of transaction value after acting on just 92 transactions since the start of this year at a value of $335.7bn. (The Lawyer)

4. 英国银圈所Travers Smith开始尝试人工智能尽职调查。Travers Smith是最新一家和人工智能科技公司RAVN Systems建立合作关系的律所，该所的公司业务部门开始尝试使用RAVN Systems开发的人工智能尽职调查软件，加入到了利用科技自动化来提高效率和降低成本的律所行列。位于英国的RAVN是法律人工智能工具新兴市场的引领者之一，之前已经与英国博闻律师事务所、英国年利达律师事务所、Reed Smith律师事务所等达成了类似的合作协议。RAVN的认知引擎能够为律所的诸多任务提供支持，包括电子证据开示、大规模数据搜索和合同管理等。这家技术公司也正在与大成律师事务所位于旧金山帕洛阿尔托的NextLaw实验室公司进行合作，共同开发一个能够进行英国脱欧相关合同审核的认知搜索引擎。不过RAVN也是有竞争对手的。本月早些时候，英国司力达律师事务所宣布和人工智能初创公司Luminance合作，而英国高伟绅律师事务所和英国欧华律师事务所也已经和竞争对手Kira Systems签署合作协议。

Travers Smith embarks on AI due diligence trial

Travers Smith is the latest firm to strike up a partnership with artificial intelligence technology company RAVN Systems.

The firm's corporate department has begun trialing the use of artificially intelligent due diligence software developed by RAVN Systems, adding yet another name to the growing list of law firms turning to technological automation to grow their efficiency and cut costs. UK-based RAVN is one of the leading players in the emerging market for legal AI tools, having already struck similar deals with Berwin Leighton Paisner, Linklaters and Reed Smith, among others. RAVN's cognitive engine is able to support law firms with a wide variety of tasks, including e-discovery, large-scale data searches and contract governance. The tech group is also collaborating with Dentons' Palo Alto-based NextLaw Labs to develop a cognitive search engine capable of conducting Brexit-related contract reviews.

RAVN is may be an emerging heavyweight in the fledgling market for legal AI technology, but it's not without competitors. Earlier this month, top-tier firm Slaughter and May announced its own partnership with AI tech start-up Luminance, while Clifford Chance and DLA Piper have already penned their own deals with rival provider Kira Systems. (Legal Week; Law.com)

5. 英国富而德律师事务所与Kira Systems合作，在并购尽职调查过程的文件审核中使用全球人工智能工具。除了富而德之外，与Kira Systems展开合作的还包括英国欧华律师事务所、英国高伟绅律师事务所以及德勤。

Freshfields partners with Kira Systems

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has become the latest law firm to sign up with Kira Systems to implement a global artificial intelligence tool for document review in the M&A due diligence process.

The Magic Circle firm will use Kira in its Legal Services Centre in Manchester to support transactional work across all practice groups. It selected Kira after a year-long trial of a number of different machine learning-based solutions, with selection largely swung, the firm said, by the fact that Kira's technology allows Freshfields' lawyers to train the algorithm to meet their specific needs.

Freshfields follows in the footsteps of DLA Piper, which in June announced that it had entered into a partnership with Kira, and Clifford Chance, which made a similar announcement in July. However, the largest deployment of Kira to date is with Deloitte, which signed up with Kira in March. (Legal Technology)

6.  雅虎因5亿账户信息泄露事件被用户起诉重大过失。上周，雅虎披露了在2014年大规模黑客攻击中，至少5亿账户信息被窃取，这是有史以来规模最大的一次，雅虎认为这是一个"政府支持的黑客"。第二天，即上周五，一名纽约用户Ronald Schwartz就代表所有个人信息被窃取的美国雅虎用户，在加州圣何塞联邦法院提起诉讼，指控雅虎在那次信息被窃事件中存在重大过失，并寻求集团诉讼和待定赔偿。两个月之前，雅虎首席执行官玛丽莎·梅耶尔同意以48亿美元将雅虎的网络业务出售给Verizon，希望能重振日益衰落的雅虎网站，而现在这一努力恐怕危险了。

Yahoo is sued for gross negligence over huge hacking

Yahoo Inc was sued on Friday by a user who accused it of gross negligence over a massive 2014 hacking in which information was stolen from at least 500 million accounts.

The lawsuit was filed in the federal court in San Jose, California, one day after Yahoo disclosed the hacking, unprecedented in size, by what it believed was a "state-sponsored actor."

Ronald Schwartz, a New York resident, sued on behalf of all Yahoo users in the United States whose personal information was compromised. The lawsuit seeks class-action status and unspecified damages.

The attack could complicate Chief Executive Marissa Mayer's effort to shore up the website's flagging fortunes, two months after she agreed to a $4.8 billion sale of Yahoo's Internet business to Verizon Communications Inc. (Reuter)

7. 苏格兰皇家银行同意支付11亿美元，来解决美国抵押支持证券赔偿案件。美国信用合作社管理局（National Credit Union Administration，NCUA）周三称，苏格兰皇家银行（RBS）将就出售有毒抵押支持证券而支付11亿美元和解金额。RBS目前正准备就许多涉及错误销售类似债券的其他美国案件进行和解。这与2008年的经济危机有关，美国信用合作社管理局称这些银行导致了公司危机。根据这一和解，RBS将不会承认存在过错，因为还正面临着其他13个类似案件。

Royal Bank of Scotland agrees to pay $1.1 billion to resolve US mortgage claims

The US National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) said Wednesday that the Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) will pay $1.1 billion after it allegedly solid toxic mortgaged-backed securities. The RBS is currently preparing to settle a number of other US cases dealing with mis-selling similar bonds. This comes after the 2008 financial crisis, in which the NCUA claim such firms "contributed to the corporate crisis." Under this settlement, the RBS does not admit fault as they currently are still facing 13 other cases for similar claims. The NCUA said that it continues to litigate against other bands for their sale of bad mortgage-backed securities to credit unions. (Jurist)

8. 美国钢铁制造商将向美国商务部提出投诉，称中国竞争对手借道越南逃避关税。据《华尔街日报》报道，美国钢铁制造商计划向美国商务部提出投诉，指责中国钢铁制造商通过越南来转运金属，以规避美国关税。这些投诉称中国将钢铁运送到越南，在当地做一些加工，例如加入锌来使其抗腐蚀，然后再出口到美国，从而按照来自越南产品的美国关税税率来支付，这远低于中国产品的关税。去年，美国政府在本国钢铁制造商的压力下，将至少四种来自中国的新类别钢铁的关税提高到266%。美国商务部将有45天时间来决定是否启动调查。根据阻止此类关税规避行为的相关规定，商务部可以将关税扩大到原产于中国而通过越南进入美国的钢铁。实际上，所要遏制的中国供大于求的金属不仅限于钢铁，美国商务部也正在对中国最大的铝制造商忠旺控股进行调查。据称忠旺不适当地通过墨西哥来转运铝，并在新泽西州的一个工厂来进行加工改造，以避免美国进口关税。

Steelmakers in U.S. to File Complaints Over Alleged Tariff Evasion by Chinese Competitors

Steel producers in the U.S. plan to file complaints with the Commerce Department on Friday and Monday, alleging Chinese steelmakers have been routing metal shipments through Vietnam to avoid U.S. import tariffs, a lawyer for the steelmakers told The Wall Street Journal.

The complaints allege the Chinese have shipped steel to Vietnam, modified it, for example adding zinc to make it corrosion-resistant, and then sent it to the U.S., while paying Vietnam's U.S. tariff rate, which is much lower than China's.

Under pressure from American steelmakers, the U.S. in the past year has imposed tariffs as high as 266% on at least four new categories of steel from China.

The Commerce Department will have 45 days to decide whether to open an investigation. Under rules designed to prevent such a tariff-evading practice, known as circumvention, the department could expand tariffs on metal that originates in China and comes into the U.S. from Vietnam.

The fight to contain the market glut of metals from China doesn't just concern steel. The Commerce Department is also investigating claims that China Zhongwang Holdings Ltd., one of China's biggest aluminum producers, improperly shipped aluminum through Mexico and transformed the metal at a plant in New Jersey to avoid U.S. import tariffs. (WSJ)

9. 奥巴马否决了允许911受害者家属起诉沙特阿拉伯的立法议案，将与国会对决。这一议案名为《反对支持恐怖主义的正义法案》（Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act）。上周五，美国总统奥巴马否决了该立法议案，而这将可能导致之后国会罕见地推翻否决、强行通过这一立法，那将是其任期内总统否决首次被推翻。奥巴马称该法案把关键的恐怖主义问题从政策官员转移到法院手中，将会损害美国国家安全，并伤害重要的盟友。长期以来，人们一直怀疑2001年911恐怖袭击中，四架美国喷气客机的劫持者受到沙特阿拉伯政府的支持，而在19名劫机者中，有15人是沙特国民。参议院和众议院通过的这一法案正是对这一问题的回应。大战正酣的希拉里和特朗普，也都表示如果他们是总统的话，会同意签署这一法案。国际上，沙特政府一直予以否认，并在大力游说以阻止这一法案，而欧盟也正式反对该法案，海湾国家则表示了谴责。后来果然如预期，美国国会在周三正式推翻了奥巴马总统的否决，强行通过了这一法案。

Obama vetoes Sept. 11 Saudi bill, sets up showdown with Congress

President Barack Obama on Friday vetoed legislation allowing families of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks to sue Saudi Arabia, which could prompt Congress to overturn his decision with a rare veto override, the first of his presidency.

Obama said the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act would hurt U.S. national security and harm important alliances, while shifting crucial terrorism-related issues from policy officials into the hands of the courts.

The bill passed the Senate and House of Representatives in reaction to long-running suspicions, denied by Saudi Arabia, that hijackers of the four U.S. jetliners that attacked the United States in 2001 were backed by the Saudi government.

Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals.

Both the Democratic and Republican candidates for president, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, said they would have signed the bill into law if they were in the White House.

The Saudi government has lobbied heavily to stop the bill, the European Union has formally opposed it and Gulf States have condemned it. (Reuters)

 

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