As the editor of the International Legal News & Executive Director of the International Lawyers Network, I would be happy to hear your comments or answer any questions about our group, please contact me: email alangriffiths@iln.com or telephone 201.594.9985 - Alan Griffiths

The International and Domestic Implications of Electronic Discovery on Litigation and Business Practices by Timothy J. Hogan Businesses in the United States face rapidly increasing operating and legal concerns, plus potentially rising costs, related to electronic discovery requests and responses. For those readers who have not yet had an e-discovery encounter, it involves searching computer networks to locate and produce all electronically stored items of relevance, including e-mail, attachments, spreadsheets, drawings, and other electronic data, and may include the production of metadata (hidden data about the authors, modifiers and times of creation of an e-document). Seminars and articles on e-discovery issues are proliferating. This article attempts to describe some of the domestic and international implications of e-discovery on businesses and their counsel, and to summarize some of the main topics in the new e-discovery wars. [FULL STORY]   Anti-Trust Reform in Europe - A year in practice by Ralf Stötzel, Hanover (Germany) The Council of the European Union adopted on 16. 12. 2002 the new Council Regulation (EC) No. 1/2003 on the implementation of the rules on competition laid down in Article 81 and 82 of the Treaty Establishing the European Community. The new Council Regulation, which came into force on 1. 05. 2004, replaces the 40 years old Antitrust-Regulation No. 17, thus bringing fundamental changes in the application of European competition law. The new Regulation is designed to respond to the current requirements of the competition policy of an enlarged and more mature European Union and to overcome the inefficiencies present in the old antitrust enforcement system. The European Commission also adopted a series of documents, regarded as the Modernisation Package, which complete the landmark modernisation of the European Union's antitrust enforcement rules and procedures. Not surprisingly, such a radical reform raises a number of questions of interpretation and as to how the new rules will work in practice. After a brief discussion of the legislative history, we will, in particular, look at what the system of legal exception will mean for the legitimate demands of undertakings for legal certainty. [FULL STORY]   Reorganization of Business Companies and Mobility within the European Union. The Latvian Perspective by Ivars Grunte and Andra Veilande The Need for Reorganization and Relocation of Registered Office Increasing integration of the single European Union market urges companies not to limit themselves to performing their business activities on the geographical market compatible to the national borders of the member state. More and more companies in the European Union transact business over the national borders, including in Latvia. Also the Latvian companies are trying to use the new possibilities by extending their business activities and entering markets of other member states of the European Union. In order to achieve alignment of their structure with the business activities performed such companies have repeatedly required introduction of legal instruments that would diminish obstacles hindering such activities and satisfy the need for reorganization of companies from several member states and transfer of registered office from one member state to another. Availability of such instruments is necessary to make European companies more competitive. Until performance of such activities does not become more practical, effective deployment of funds in the European Union will be hindered in comparison with its biggest competitors. [FULL STORY]   Legal Project Management by Roger Quick & Philip Reed Legal Project Management adapts traditional project management principles to the purchase and management of legal services to create a complete management approach calculated to match and exceed the client’s expectations of his or her lawyer. After a brief consideration of the principles of project management this article considers the purchase of legal services by a client the incidents of that purchase and their management. The contract by which the purchase is required to be recorded in is usually described in Anglo Australia jurisdictions as a retainer. A solicitor's freedom to agree upon the terms of the retainer, particularly terms as to costs, is relatively recent and still subject to regulatory restraints. FOR FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE (PDF) [FULL STORY]   A Case Study: The Exclusion of FDA Materials from the FDA's Division of Drug Marketing, Advertising and Communications, and Adverse Event Reports by Jeffrey B. Shapiro & Neville M. Leslie FDA controls how pharmaceutical companies label and promote prescription drugs FOR FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE (PDF) [FULL STORY]   Foreign Direct Investment in China by Gregory Sy As widely documented, over the last twenty years and particularly in the past five, China has widely opened its doors to foreign investment. Though there is much news regarding the overall liberalization of markets, there is often still a great deal of mystery surrounding specific investment vehicles available for corporate entry into the Chinese market. This article will seek to shed some light on these issues and introduce the investment environment of the People’s Republic of China. [FULL STORY]   Director Liability in the Wake of the WorldCom and Enron Settlements by Michael Sullivan and Erin Furman On January 6, 2005, it was reported that ten former outside directors of WorldCom Inc. had agreed to a $54 million settlement for their roles in WorldCom’s $11 billion accounting fraud, which resulted in the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.1 One-third, or $18 million, of the settlement would have been paid by the directors personally, with the balance paid by WorldCom’s D&O insurance policy. The $18 million represented approximately 20% of the directors’ cumulative net worth, excluding primary residences, retirement accounts and judgment-proof joint assets. WorldCom’s bankruptcy followed the discovery of approximately $9 billion in accounting errors and led to the indictment of its former CEO Bernie Ebbers. WorldCom eventually restated its pretax income for 2000 and 2001 by $74.4 billion. It was also revealed that the board of directors approved $400 million in loans and guarantees to Mr. Ebbers. [FULL STORY]   Extraterritorial Effect of French Law on Insolvency by Roland Montfort • Cross-border insolvencies are perhaps one of the numerous consequences of the increased globalization of, and recent downturns in, the economy. • As we all know there is no comprehensive international law on insolvency, although numerous trends and efforts push towards building adequate legal frameworks to deal with certain effects entailed by the financial distress of multinational companies: among those, the UNCITRAL model and the recent EC Regulation n° 1346 of May 2002. [FULL STORY]   Big Changes to Bankruptcy Act: What Businesses Need to Know by Barry A. Chatz, James A. Chatz and Miriam Stein President Bush has signed the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, which provides for broad sweeping changes to the current Bankruptcy Code effective for the most part as of October, 2005. Although there has been much discussion in the media regarding the law, most of it has been directed at the provisions regarding individuals' bankruptcies. There are a number of provisions in the new law, however, that affect companies filing for bankruptcy protection, companies who transact with debtors, and individuals engaged in estate planning. These provisions are as follows: [FULL STORY]