05/25/06
U.S. vs. UK law firms
Comparing law firms in the U.S. and UK, American firms clearly outshine their British counterparts, according to a survey by American Lawyer Media. Judging from financial results, the combined gross revenue for the top-100 U.S. firms showed an increase of 10%. The U.S. firms produced $50.7 billion in revenue through 2005 compared to only $18.2 billion earned collectively by the UK top-100 in 2004-05.
The same trend can be seen when comparing the average profit per equity partner (PEP). According to the American Lawyer's AM Law 100 survey, The average PEP for top-100 U.S. firms in 2005 was $1.12 million compared to an average of $444,070 for the UK top-100 firms in 2004-05.
O'Melveny & Myers' Asian expansion
O'Melveny & Myers, LLP, reinforced its Dispute Resolution Practice by expanding into the Asian market. The firm has strengthened its position by appointing several well-known attorneys to its Chinese and Japanese offices.
Michael Moser has joined the firm as a partner and will serve as co-head of the China practice along with Howard Chao. Formerly the head of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer's Greater China practice, he frequently acts as arbitrator or counsel in Chinese-foreign business disputes in Asia, Europe and the U.S. Joining the firm as partners in Japan are Yoji Maeda and Yuki Terazawa, experienced Japanese litigators.
The firm stands committed to diversity and to promoting equal and nondiscriminatory opportunities. It ranked 16th in lawyer diversity in the National Law Journal's list of the top-250 firms.
Milbank and Davis Polk advise on Indian IPO
The international law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, LLP, and Davis Polk & Wardwell have advised the underwriters of India's largest ever initial public offering by Reliance Petroleum Limited, which netted $600 million.
Reliance Petroleum Limited, a part of Reliance Industries, the largest business group in India, is setting up the world's largest refinery complex and polypropylene plant in a Special Economic Zone in the state of Gujarat in western India, near the Pakistan border.
In the event of an emergency
Based on the alarming forecast issued earlier this year by the National Hurricane Center for the upcoming 2006 hurricane season, New Orleans law firm Stone Pigman Walther Wittmann, LLC, has announced that they are relying on Neverfail's high-availability and disaster recovery software to protect the sensitive legal data of the firm.
Previously, firms were left to rely on tape backups to protect their data. Stone Pigman is banking on Neverfail as a failsafe. The New Orleans firm is an important resource for national corporations doing business in the Gulf South.
The Neverfail Group is a leading global software company providing affordable data protection, "cluster-class" high application availability and disaster recovery solutions for the Windows-based technology platform.
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