In London, an administrative clerk faces a charge of requesting and receiving a bribe to influence criminal proceedings, under Section 2 of the Bribery Act 2010.

Mr Munir Yakub Patel, who was working at Redbridge Magistrates’ Court, will be the first person to be prosecuted under the new Act.

Gaon Hart, reviewing lawyer for the Crown Prosecution Service said: “It is alleged that Patel promised an individual summonsed for a motoring offence that he could influence the course of criminal proceedings in exchange for £500, on 1 August 2011.”

The case will be heard at Southwark Crown Court in London on 14 October 2011. The maximum sentence for the offence is 10 years’ imprisonment.

Mr Munir Yakub Patel also faces charges of misconduct in public office and perverting the course of justice, which relate to other alleged misconduct during his employment.

The Bribery Act 2010 came into effect on the 1st of July, 2011.

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The College of Law in London launched a redundancy consultation earlier in the year (the 26th of May) with the aim of reviewing their twenty full-time employees. The review is now finished and the results have been very positive.

There was effectively a “rebalancing” exercise, according to the college, which aimed to minimise or avoid compulsory redundancies. Existing staff members have been relocated according to the review’s findings and some tutors chose to take a voluntary redundancy. Some employees also took a reduction in work hours.

The relocating of staff was made possible because the review found some of the eight centres owned by the college were understaffed, while others were excessively staffed.

A spokesperson for the college said, “The College recently completed the rebalancing of tutor staff across our centres. This was successfully achieved through tutors moving between centres, reductions in hours and voluntary redundancies, and we are pleased that there was no requirement for any compulsory redundancies.”

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A selection of top British law firms have offered their services to businesses that were victimised by the rioting in earlier this month. Amongst the firms offering pro bono work are Linklaters, Eversheds and DLA Piper.

Twelve of DLA’s London-based partners and legal directors have organised a series of legal surgeries in Ealing, Tottenham, Haringey, Croyden, Peckham and Newham.

Richard Crossfield, real estate partner at DLA, attended a one of these meetings in Ealing. He said, “Attending the surgery brought home to the team the impact that the events have had on small business people. This was evidenced by the DLA team who last night tried to help a man whose restaurant had been burnt down and is facing potential bankruptcy and the loss of his home.”

The president of the Law Society, John Wotton, added, “The Law Society has been calling on the profession to provide pro bono assistance to help meet the demand. I have been hugely impressed by the response of solicitors so far who are demonstrating yet again their commitment to a just and stable society and urge others to join the movement.”

Eversheds made a considerable contribution by donating £5,000 to the helpline and has also pledged pro bono legal advice.

Photo by Tomasz Iwaniec.

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Addleshaw Goddard has reported a success for their first ever legal work experience project. It was created for 16 and 17 year olds from disadvantaged backgrounds to access law careers.

The programme, named the Legal Access Week, awarded 10 students from two state secondary schools the chance to experience life in a legal career at the firm’s London and Leeds offices.

Addleshaw Goddard’s diversity manager, Mary Gallagher, said, “We wanted to show these young people that a privileged upbringing is not a prerequisite to becoming a lawyer. The students who took part seemed to really enjoy the experience and we would, of course, love to see them enter the legal profession in the future, perhaps even as trainees here.”

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Herbert Smith has taken on a new partner for its lending and acquisition finance practice.

Will Nevin from Linklaters has joined the firm this month as a new partner. He was formerly a senior associate with Linklaters’ City banking group. Nevin has exp3erience working with large financial institutions, including Commerzbank, HSBC, Credit Agricole and Deutsche Bank.

Herbit Smith now has 20 partners in the London lending and acquisition finance practice.

Nevin commented on his move, saying, “When I was approached by Herbert Smith I saw it as a great opportunity to be part of a growing practice. The firm has a clear view of where it wants to take the finance group and a great brand and platform from which to do it, so I thought it was a good time to make the move.”

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This story goes back to May 2010, when Peter Lloyd-Cooper was suspended due to financial irregularities around client’s money. Later in the same month he was expelled from partnership.

The SRA (Solicitors Regulation Authority) cleared Kennedys of any responsibility , and the matter has been handed over to the police for further investigation.

As far as the missing money is concerned, Kennedys has fully reimbursed the client. The firm has not commented on the amount of money that went missing.

Senior partner at Kennedys, Nick Thomas, said, “I can confirm with regret that Peter Lloyd-Cooper, a former partner in the corporate and property finance team in London, was expelled from the partnership on 14 May 2010 following the discovery of irregularities in the use of client monies.”

He added that, “The client was immediately reimbursed and the firm has been cooperating with the SRA and the police. The SRA has completed its report on Kennedys and concluded that they have no criticism of any individual but Mr Cooper. The report confirms that they have no criticisms of our systems and that no action will be taken against the firm.”

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Martin Stewart-Smith, formerly of Simmons & Simmons has become a projects partner with Morgan Lewis & Bockius. This move strengthens the London based firm’s energy transactions practice.

Once Stewart-Smith has served his notice period he will leave his role as a partner in the energy and project finance practice at Simmons, to join Morgan Lewis & Bockius on the 1st of September.

The energy transactions chief from Morgan Lewis, David Asmus, had the following to say, “Martin is a well-respected projects partner with a strong LNG, gas and power background who will provide another key component in our growing international energy transactions practice.”

Stewart-Smith has worked on behalf of developers, sponsors and lenders on energy projects in the US, Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

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The partner remuneration structure at City law firm, Norton Rose, could be altered to make it more merit based. This kind of restructuring usually comes with a US merger, so Norton Rose could be one of the first to introduce such an adjustment independently of a US merger.

On the 4th of July Norton Rose’s new-look partnership council met for the first time, and the discussion of the remuneration amendment is high on the council’s agenda. The firm is preparing for a three way merger with Oligivy Renault of Canada and Deneys Reitz of South Africa.

Of the top 10 UK firms, Eversheds is the only one to have introduced merit-based pay independently. Hogan Lovells began phasing in the merit pay system after merging with a US firm.

Norton Rose chairman, Stephen Parish said, “Looking at this matter is something that partners would be expecting us to do. However, you have to be very careful when you start changing fundamentals of the firm.”

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Korea has entered into a Free Trade Agreement with the EU, making it possible for European law firms to open branches in Korea.

At the moment the law firms can only advise on international law, but two years from now they will be able to handle domestic and international cases. In five years time the European firms will be allowed to make mergers and acquisitions of Korean Firms.

London based international law firm, Allen & Overy, is one of the British law firms vying for a spot in Korea.

Byun Moon-san, a lawyer with Allen & Overy, said “We’re expecting there to be more work in Korea in the future, so our company is in the process of putting together a team of Korean lawyers.”

On the Korean side there are some concerns about the new competition the move will bring. Yoon Byung-chul, a lawyer from Korean firm Kim & Chang, said, “There will be large scale law firms with 3 to 4 thousand lawyers coming in from Europe so it won’t be easy competing with them it is going to be tough.”

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