02/01/07
McDermott Will & Emery heads for China
Chicago's McDermott Will & Emery is teaming up with Shanghai-based firm Yuan Da Law Offices to enter into the Chinese mainland. The first of its kind, this East-West alliance which materialized after 18-months of courtship entails client-sharing and providing legal counsel in their respective areas. However, as per the Chinese laws, the firms will not be able to share profits and must account separately for how they bills clients. According to Chinese laws, foreign law firms cannot directly practice Chinese laws, but can advise on the legal environment in an inexplicit way.
Though it wouldn't have access to its partner's coffer, the 100-lawyer firm McDermott will benefit indirectly by gaining access to the latter's clientele list. McDermott officials are happy that the firm will have a stronghold in the mainland through its partner's presence. The firms hope to cash in on the rising demand for cross-border legal services in areas like securities offerings, trade disputes, public offerings, and overseas acquisitions.
Foley & Lardner partners with LexisNexis for its IT needs
After reviewing a substantial amount of data centers for nine months, Foley & Lardner LLP has zeroed in on the LexisNexis data center in Dayton, OH, as its main systems hosting center. The law firm, which has 1,000 lawyers working in 17 U.S. and two global offices, felt the need for a round the clock data center to serve clients better, and eliminate the unaffordable downtime. LexisNexis' Dayton data center serves clients in more than a 100 countries and boasts more than 99.99 percent availability. The new system will provide Foley & Lardner's critical data, better management, and effective storage.
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