Pitcairn Island women do not live an idyllic South Pacific life, but one dominated by fear and sexual abuse which saw them raped as young girls by the island’s men, descendents of 18th century Bounty mutineers, a court has heard. “The girls are treated as though they are a sex thing,” a former Pitcairn woman, […]

Three British bankers facing extradition to the U.S. on Enron Corp.-related fraud charges accused the U.S. government of using the proceedings as a weapon to pressure the men into implicating senior Enron officials in the alleged crimes. David Bermingham, Gary Mulgrew and Giles Darby were indicted on seven counts of wire fraud by a Houston

Pittsburgh’s largest law firm, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, said yesterday that it would merge with English firm Nicholson Graham & Jones, giving it one of the five largest London offices among U.S. law firms. The combination, approved unanimously by partners on both sides of the Atlantic, will form Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham LLP, with 950

Pinsents and Masons are just weeks away from agreeing to a merger that would forge a national giant dubbed Pinsent Masons, it has emerged. The surprise talks are thought to have been going on for a number of months and are now at an advanced stage, leaving a vote in favour of the deal the

Piper Rudnick has opened early discussions with Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich about a merger between the two firms, according to law firm consultant Peter Zeughauser. Although firm leaders won’t say whether they’re negotiating, the two firms — themselves both products of past mergers — have made no secret of their desire to grow. Such

North Korea has taken a further tentative step on its economic reform path after it allowed the country’s first law firm to open on a Pyongyang square named after the communist state’s founder, Kim Il-sung. British lawyer-turned-consultant Michael Hay told four foreign reporters the firm he jointly owns with an outfit spun off from an

A probe at Hollinger International has concluded the company’s former chief executive – newspaper tycoon Lord Black – colluded with associates to systematically loot the company of nearly all of its profits over the past seven years. And the report says the staggering figure involved is more than £222m. It detailed how Black lavished the

The American Lawyer’s A-List is a carefully weighted ranking based on AL’s surveys of The Am Law 200, the highest-grossing U.S.- headquartered firms. The top 20 firms — the top 10 percent — made The A-List, a ranking we called the new elite, or the top tier. Many of the firms that made the list

The vast profits being made by Britain’s top lawyers will be laid bare in a report to be published tomorrow which shows the leading 100 firms sharing revenues of £9.11bn and profits of £2.7bn. In response to mounting concern that lawyers are putting profits before ethics, the Law Society is planning to impose tough new

Some cried “foul,” but hiring used jurors is an ever more common practice, although it hasn’t been talked about much. And while in most states hiring a juror is not a crime or unethical under professional conduct rules, some in the legal community think it’s just not right. Lawyers hiring former jurors goes back at