Hong Kong: LAWFUEL – Law Firm News Every Day – Clifford Chance has been named IFLR International Law Firm of the Year in Asia at the annual IFLR Asian Awards, held in Hong Kong on 1 March.

In the award citation, IFLR’s judges said, “Clifford Chance stepped up another gear this year and was involved in innovative deals across the board.”

The firm’s Asian operations also received awards for Debt and Equity-Linked Team of the Year, M&A Deal of the Year (for work on the acquisition of Vodafone KK by Softbank in Japan), and Debt and Equity-Linked Deal of the Year (for work on the world’s first exchangeable Islamic bond for Malaysia’s Khazanah Nasional Berhad).

“Clifford Chance has been working for clients in Asia for over 26 years,” said Clifford Chance Asia Managing Partner Jim Baird. “This award recognises our reputation for consistently delivering the most innovative solutions to those clients.”

“Our Asian team – based in Bangkok, Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo – is a key part of Clifford Chance’s global network. Their breadth and depth of skills makes us the law firm of choice for complex transactions in Asia.”

“Winning these awards wouldn’t be possible without the hard work of our people throughout Asia and the continued support of our clients. I’d like to thank them all.”

The awards round off a successful week for Clifford Chance in Asia. On 28 February, the firm’s Funds team was recognised as Best Law Firm for Asset Management in 2006 by Asia Asset Management magazine, and was yesterday named Asia’s Best Law Firm (Fund Formation) and Asia’s Best Law Firm (Deals) for 2006 in UK-based Private Equity Online’s annual poll.
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Notes for editors
1. Clifford Chance LLP is the first fully integrated global law firm, with 28 offices in 20 countries*. The firm aims to provide seamless global services to the world’s leading financial institutions and multinational businesses.
2. Unrivalled in its international resources, Clifford Chance has over 3,600 legal advisers and is organised around six global practice areas: capital markets; corporate (including M&A); finance; litigation and dispute resolution; real estate; and tax, pensions and employment law.
3. In Asia, Clifford Chance operates in Bangkok, Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo. With over 400 lawyers in Asia alone, it is one of the largest international firms in the region, enjoying a market leading reputation across a number of practices.
*Includes an associated office in Romania

TALLAHASSEE, FL – LAWFUEL – US Attorney – Attorney General Bill McCollum and the Florida
Department of Law Enforcement today announced that five Tampa area
residents were arrested for possession and distribution of child
pornography. The arrests are the culmination of a weeklong operation in the Tampa area by federal, state and local law enforcement authorities to
investigate and apprehend individuals who possessed and distributed child
pornography.

Those arrested were Jeffery Feldhause, 22, of Largo, who will be
charged with one count of possession of videos depicting the sexual
performance of a minor and one count of distribution of videos promoting
the sexual performance by a minor; Jerry Barfield, 41, of Plant City, who
will be charged with 19 counts of possession of videos depicting the sexual
performance of a minor and four counts of distribution of videos promoting
the sexual performance by a minor; Trent Cox, 42, of Tampa, who will be
charged with four counts of possession of videos depicting the sexual
performance of a minor and one count of distribution of videos promoting
the sexual performance by a minor; Michael Boyd, 41, of Tampa, who will be
charged with 15 counts of possession of videos depicting the sexual
performance of a minor; and Ryan Lawrence, 22, of Tampa, who will be
charged with four counts of possession of videos depicting the sexual
performance of a minor.

“Nothing is more important than keeping our children safe from
individuals who attempt to steal their innocence by victimizing them in
such a heinous manner,” said Attorney General McCollum. “We will never back
down and we will never turn away from this fight to protect our youngest
citizens.”

“Florida’s law enforcement is committed to working together to
protect our most innocent citizens, our children, from being victimized by
online predators,” said Special Agent Supervisor Mike Phillips of FDLE’s
Computer Crime Center.

The arrests were part of a joint effort by the Attorney General’s
Child Predator CyberCrime Unit and Office of Statewide Prosecution, FDLE’s
Computer Crime Center, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Innocent
Images Task Force, the United States Secret Service, the Hillsborough,
Pinellas and Polk Counties Sheriff’s Office and the Tampa and Plant City
Police Departments. The agencies involved are all members of the Internet
Crimes Against Children Task Force, a federally-funded program that assists
law enforcement agencies in their investigation of internet crimes against
children.