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1. 金杜将英国、欧洲和中东区域的合伙人猛砍15%。（KWM to slash UK, Europe and Middle East partnership by 15 per cent）
King & Wood Mallesons has announced that it will axe at least 23 partner positions from its practices across the UK, Europe and the Middle East.
The decision is part of a 'strategic restructure' in the region following a year of flat revenue in the UK. Though the scale-back won't result in any office closures, it is expected that the brunt of the cuts will be felt by partners in KWM's offices in London and Germany. An additional 45 positions are expected to be cut from the firm's 425-strong team of business support staff across the region.
The UK and EUME arm of KWM, which is primarily composed of of legacy SJ Berwin offices, has suffered considerable turbulence since that firm's 2013 tie-up with China-headquartered King & Wood Mallesons, including the closure of its Berlin office in May 2014. The firm's latest review of its headcount comes less than 12 months after the firm trimmed 10 per cent of its equity partnership in the same region. (Global Legal Post; Legal Business; The Lawyer)
金杜律师事务所宣布将在英国、欧洲和中东地区裁减23个合伙人职位。
一年来英国版块的收入一直低迷，而这一裁减决定也是该区域“战略重组”的一部分。尽管这一收缩并不会导致任何办公室被关闭，但预期会对金杜在伦敦和德国的办公室的合伙人产生冲击。此外，对于金杜在该区域多达425人的业务支持团队，也预期将有45个职位被裁减。
金杜的英国和欧洲中东业务单元，主要由柏文国际律师事务所的办公室而来，而在该所和金杜联合后却遭遇了巨大的动荡，包括在2014年5月关闭了柏林办公室。
2. 诉讼融资机构将为针对澳大利亚上市律所Slater and Gordon的股东集团诉讼提供资金支持。(Firms fund legal action against Slaters)
Slater and Gordon is a step closer to being served with shareholder class action papers after JustKapital Litigation Partners and Woodsford Litigation Funding joined forces to fund proceedings against the embattled law firm.
JustKapital and Woodsford have agreed to the terms of a conditional funding agreement with ACA Lawyers to prosecute a class action against the listed-law firm on behalf of shareholders who have suffered losses.
ACA said on December 18 it was considering a class action against Slater and Gordon, but the additional support will give them more legal firepower.
Five days later, rival law firm Maurice Blackburn also flagged its plans to file a shareholder class action against the company.
The potential shareholder claims against Slater and Gordon will stem from statements issued by the company's board of directors in relation to earnings guidance in 2015.
Slater and Gordon - which became the first law firm to list on the Australian bourse in May 2007 - has lost almost 90 per cent of its $2.75 billion market value since April following its acquisition of Quindell. (Yahoo)
陷入危机之中的澳大利亚上市律所Slater and Gordon距离股东集团诉讼又更近了一步，因为针对该律所的诉讼军团中又新添了JustKapital Litigation Partners和Woodsford Litigation Funding两股诉讼融资（litigation funding）力量。
JustKapital和Woodsford已经与ACA Lawyers律师事务所就附条件的诉讼融资协议达成一致， 来为那些遭受损失的Slater and Gordon股东提起集团诉讼。ACA早在2015年12月18日就已经表示在考虑提起集团诉讼，现在这些额外的支持将给他们提供更强大的法律火力。几乎与此同时，Slater and Gordon的竞争对手Maurice Blackburn律师事务所也高调宣布，计划对Slater and Gordon提起股东集团诉讼。
这些股东集团诉讼将主要针对Slater and Gordon董事会对于2015年的收入声明。
2007年5月，Slater and Gordon成为第一家在澳大利亚交易所上市的律所。然而，自从收购了Quindell 以后，2015年4月至今该律所27.5亿澳元的股票市值几乎跌掉了90%。
3. 美国盛信律师事务所在2016年第一季度全球并购交易中排名第一，而全球并购活动下降。(Simpson Thacher tops global M&A rankings for Q1 as activity falls)
According to data from Thomson Reuters , US firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett has acted on M&A deals worth more than any other firm so far this year, with 26 transactions valued at more than $112bn.
White & Case came in second, with 43 deals totalling $94.5bn, while Davis Polk & Wardwell was in third place with 24 deals worth $79.6bn.
A total of 6,718 deals worth $526.9bn have been announced so far this year. However, the M&A market has been slower in the first quarter of this year compared to the first three months of 2015, when deal value totalled $684.3bn. Corporate partners have suggested that market uncertainties including Brexit, falling oil prices and the Chinese economy are leading some companies to rethink their position.
Simpson Thacher’s dominance in the rankings has been particularly down to its involvement in two of the largest M&A transactions this year, with the firm having won a lead role in China National Chemical Corporation’s (ChemChina) $43bn acquisition of Syngenta and acted for Tyco International in its $20bn merger with Johnson Controls. (Global Legal Post, The Lawyer)
根据汤森路透的数据，2016年截至到现在，按照交易金额，美国盛信律师事务所在全球并购交易中排名第一，参与了26笔交易，总金额超过1120亿美元，比其他任何一家律所都要多，其中中国化工以430亿美元收购先正达、泰科国际集团以200亿美元并购江森自控等巨额交易贡献显著。美国伟凯律师事务所排名第二，43笔交易，总金额945亿美元。美国达维律师事务所排名第三，24笔交易，总金额796亿美元。
从整体情况来看，2016年至今，已宣布的全球并购交易共有6718起，总金额5269亿美元。这和2015年第一季度相比有所减速，当时为6843亿美元。英国退欧风险、油价剧跌和中国经济等都导致了市场的谨慎。
4. 英国法律服务行业出口强劲，而全行业增长了8%。(State of the industry: UK legal services sector grows 8% as exports rise）
Counter to the UK's trade deficit widening at the end of 2015, the UK's legal industry has again outperformed the rest of the country with its contribution to the economy rising 8% to £25.7bn and its net exports rising rapidly.
With English law having emerged as the dominant business law over the last two decades, the UK has become a significant exporter of legal services. The Law Society's Economic Value of the Legal Services Sector report found that net exports of legal services have grown by an average of 5.6% over the last ten years to £3.6bn.
The report comes as the government slashes the Ministry of Justice budget, which is on course to have dropped from £9.1bn in 2010/11 to £6bn by 2019/20, and subsidises cuts by shifting the burden onto users of the legal system. The government has imposed a £10,000 court fee on civil claims worth over £200,000 at the start of last year and is in the process of planning further increases. City litigators fear this will deter users from bringing high value disputes to London and tarnish the brand of English law by making justice more inaccessible. (Legal Business)
尽管英国在2015年底贸易逆差逐步扩大，法律行业却一枝独秀，对英国经济的贡献增长了8%，达到了257亿英镑，净出口收入也增长迅速。
在过去二十年里，随着英国法成为全球商业领域主导的适用法律，英国也成为法律服务的重要出口国。法律协会关于法律服务业经济价值的报告发现，在过去十年里，法律服务净出口值年均增长5.6%，达到了36亿英镑。
有意思的是，这一报告出台的背景正是英国政府大幅削减司法部的预算，目前正按计划从2010-2011年的91亿英镑削减到2019-2020年的60亿英镑，而相关补贴也通过转嫁给使用者的方式来进行削减。政府在去年初已经对案值在20万英镑以上的民事案件收取1万英镑的诉讼费，目前正在计划进一步提高诉讼费。伦敦的律师们担忧这将使得那些大额争议当事方不再选择在伦敦解决争议，并让正义更加不可触及，从而侵蚀英国法的声誉。
5. 英国刑事法庭的法官宣判将首次被拍摄。（Judges’ Crown Court sentencing remarks to be filmed for first time）
（图片来源：selbydixonlaw.co.uk）
For the first time TV cameras will be allowed in to the Crown Court in a new pilot scheme to assess whether judges’ sentencing remarks should be broadcast live.
Currently, filming is permitted in the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, but banned in the Crown Court under section 41 of the Criminal Justice Act 1925 and the Contempt of Court Act.
But this is to change as TV cameras are brought in to eight courts in England and Wales, including the Old Bailey.
The other courts included in the three-month pilot are Southwark, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool, Leeds and Cardiff.
Today a statutory instrument will be laid in the House of Commons to change the law. Once it is passed the initiative will start as soon as possible, with the filming handled by the BBC, Sky, ITN and the Press Association as an extension to their Court of Appeal coverage.
Only judges’ sentences remarks will be filmed — so for now there will be no English version of the Oscar Pistorius trial. And under the pilot nothing will actually be broadcast.
But justice minister Shailesh Vara, who announced the scheme over the weekend, has indicated that the aim of the project is to enable Crown Court TV. (Legal Cheek)
在一项新的试点计划中，英国刑事法庭（Crown Court）将首次允许电视摄影机进入法庭进行录播，从而评估是否应当公开直播法官的庭审宣判。
目前，英国最高法院和上诉法院都允许拍摄，但按照1925年《刑事司法法案》的第41条和《蔑视法庭法案》，英国刑事法院禁止进行拍摄。不过一切正在逐步改变。目前英格兰和威尔士有八个法院允许拍摄，包括中央刑事法庭。
在这项为期三个月的试点计划中，除了英国刑事法庭，其他试点范围还包括萨瑟克区、曼彻斯特、伯明翰、布里斯托尔、利物浦、利兹市和加的夫等地法院。
目前英国下议院也将审议一份法律文件，来改变之前过于严格的规定。一旦该法案通过，很快将会有尝鲜者，诸如BBC、天空、独立电视新闻和英国报业协会等都将参与拍摄，来作为对上诉法院报道的扩展。
目前来看，只有法官的庭审宣判将被拍摄，因此现在还没有奥斯卡·皮斯托利斯审判的英国版本。并且在试点阶段，并不是真正意义上的公开播放，更像是一种内测。
对于上周末公布此项计划的司法部长Shailesh Vara来说，这一项目的目的在于实现刑事法院电视直播。
6. 悉尼16岁的在校女生面临资助恐怖主义指控。（Sydney schoolgirl, 16, faces terror financing charge）
A teenage girl and a 20-year-old man are accused of sending money to the so-called Islamic State from Australia.
The pair are expected to be charged with financing terrorism, which carries a maximum penalty of 25 years' jail.
The man was previously arrested during Australia's largest counter-terrorism raids in September 2014.
He is the 14th and final person to be put before the courts as a result of the mass arrests, police said. (BBC)
一名16岁的女孩和一名20岁的男子被指控从澳大利亚向所谓的伊斯兰国恐怖组织提供资金。预计两人将以资助恐怖主义罪被指控，该罪名最高刑罚为25年监禁。该名男子之前在2014年9月份澳大利亚最大的一次反恐突袭中被逮捕，根据警方说法，此人是那次大逮捕行动中第14名、也是最后一名被起诉者。
7. 英国严重欺诈办公室获得了针对“Euribor操纵五人组”的逮捕令。（UK fraud prosecutors obtain arrest warrants for 'Euribor five'）
（图片来源：sfo.gov.uk）
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has obtained arrest warrants in its bid to bring four Germans and one Frenchman to Britain to face charges of conspiracy to rig Euribor benchmark interest rates.
The five men declined a requisition request to attend London’s Westminster magistrates court on 11 January, where they would have been charged with conspiracy to defraud, relating to alleged manipulation of Euribor (the euro interbank offered rate). (The Guardian)
英国严重欺诈办公室（Serious Fraud Office，SFO）一直在努力争取将四名德国人和一名法国人逮捕，从而在英国指控其涉嫌共谋操纵欧元银行同业拆解利率（Euribor）这一基准利率的罪行。这五人之前曾拒绝了参加伦敦威斯敏斯特地方法院刑事案件的要求。而SFO现在已经获得了欧洲的逮捕令。
8. 美国乔治梅森大学莫卡特斯中心称，BEPS计划侵犯美国国家主权。（BEPS Infringing US National Sovereignty, Report Says）
The Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is undermining national sovereignty, according to a report from the Mercatus Center, a research center based at George Mason University in the United States.
The report, which was authored by Jason Fichtner and Adam Michel, also disputed the OECD's claim that the BEPS Project will increase corporate tax revenue.
The report said that the US should scrap the corporate tax completely, instead of trying to eliminate BEPS. It said that "the tax is inefficient because it double-taxes income, penalizes business activity, and requires onerous and costly regulations."
However, since repealing the corporate tax would not be politically viable in the short term, the report offered alternatives for the US, including ending the taxation of worldwide income, and lowering the corporate tax rate, which is currently the highest in the OECD. (tax-news.com)
美国乔治梅森大学莫卡特斯中心的一份报告指出，经合组织（Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development，OECD）的税基侵蚀和利润转移（Base Erosion and Profit Shifting，BEPS）计划正在破坏美国国家主权。
该报告的作者为Jason Fichtner和Adam Michel，报告中也对经合组织关于BEPS计划将会提高企业所得税收入的说法表示质疑。
该报告称，美国应该完全废除企业所得税，而不是试图去消除BEPS。在该报告看来，“企业所得税是无效率的，因为对所得双重征税，给商业活动带来不便，并且需要繁重而成本高昂的监管。”
该报告也认识到，在短期内废除企业所得税在政治上是不可行的，因此为美国提供了替代方案，包括终止对来自全球范围所得的征税、降低企业所得税率（目前美国是经合组织国家中最高的）等。
在小编看来，废除企业所得税这种大刀阔斧的改革似乎不太现实，不过面对Apple等各全球收入避税大户，一旦采取这些替代方案，显然利润又会轻松流会美国，因此主动权永远是掌握在美国人手中的。
9. 美国最大的炼油厂如今属于沙特阿拉伯。（Largest U.S. refinery now belongs to Saudi Arabia）
（图片来源：newsunited.com）
Royal Dutch Shell and Saudi Aramco appear to be getting a divorce, breaking up their joint venture in U.S.-based refining assets.
The two companies joined together to create Motiva Enterprises LLC in 1998, a 50-50 joint venture that operated three refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast. But Shell and Saudi Aramco have seen their interests head in different directions. "It is now time for the partners to pursue their independent downstream goals," said Abdulrahman Al-Wuhaib, a senior vice president of Saudi Aramco’s downstream unit.
The split will hand the largest U.S. refinery to the state-owned Saudi oil company. The Wall Street Journal speculates that it could also pave the way for some sort of listing of Aramco’s assets in a public offering, something that Saudi officials have alluded to for several months. Few expect Aramco to list its upstream production assets in Saudi Arabia; downstream assets are much more likely to be offered up. (USA Today)
荷兰皇家壳牌和沙特阿美看起来好像进入了“离婚”阶段，对美国炼油资产的合资公司进行了“财产分割”。
1998年，两家公司共同设立了Motiva Enterprises LLC，股比为50：50，运营着美国墨西哥湾岸区的三座炼油厂。不过两大股东的利益取向并不相同，因此是时候分手了。
这一分割将把美国最大的炼油厂移交给沙特阿美这一沙特国有石油公司。《华尔街日报》推测说，这一举动将为沙特阿美的上市铺好道路，因为该公司不太可能将位于沙特的上游资产拿出来上市，更可能是把下游资产推向市场。
10. 法律云计算协会建立法律行业的云计算标准。（LCCA sets standard for cloud computing in legal industry）
（图片来源：Global Legal Post）
The Legal Cloud Computing Association has released the first set of 21 cloud security standards crafted specifically for the legal industry.
They are intended to help law firms and attorneys choose software providers that meet basic security measures and lay out what organisations should look for when selecting a cloud-based service provider.
Version 1.0 of the standards dictate that software-as-a-service (SaaS) providers (providers that store and provide access to information over the internet) should disclose where their data is stored and be able to meet basic standards for data security, as well as user access and authentication. Legal service providers also should meet terms of service basics for privacy, data breaches and data recovery. (Global Legal Post)
法律云计算协会（Legal Cloud Computing Association，LCCA）发布了为法律行业精心打造的第一组21条云安全标准，旨在帮助律所和律师选择符合基本安全要求的软件供应商，以及提供选择云服务供应商方面的建议。
该协会1.0版本的云安全标准，要求软件即服务（software-as-a-service，SaaS）供应商应当披露数据存储地点、满足用户访问及认证和数据安全基本标准等。法律服务提供者同样也应当满足隐私、数据泄露和数据恢复的基本服务要求。
11. 雅加达出租车司机抗议称Uber正在毁坏他们的生意。（Jakarta taxi protests: 'Uber is destroying our business'）
（图片来源：dailymail.co.uk）
Thousands of taxi and motorbike drivers have brought transport chaos to Indonesia's capital, Jakarta, with scuffles breaking out in places.
They say ride-hailing apps like Uber and Grab are destroying their industry. (BBC)
在印度尼西亚首都雅加达，成千上万的出租车和摩托车司机造成了交通瘫痪，并在许多地方出现扭打事件。 他们抗议称像Uber和Grab这样的打车软件正在破坏他们的行业。
12. 阿里巴巴集团执行副主席蔡崇信向母校耶鲁大学捐赠了3000万美元。（Alibaba executive gives $30M to Yale Law School）
The executive vice chairman of the Alibaba Group - often referred to as the Chinese Amazon -has donated $30m to his alma mater.
The funds have been given by Joseph Tsai in honour of his father Paul Tsai, also a Yale law alum, and will boost Yale’s China Center, which will be renamed the Paul Tsai China Center. It is one of just a handful of institutes dedicated specifically to China at US law schools and aims to advance legal reform within China and improve relations between China and the US. (Global Legal Post; The National Law Journal)
阿里巴巴集团执行副主席蔡崇信向他的母校耶鲁大学捐赠了3000万美元，该笔捐赠基金旨在推动耶鲁大学中国研究中心的发展，该中心现在被重新命名为蔡中曾中国研究中心，以纪念蔡崇信的父亲蔡中曾。这一中心是美国法学院中众多专门从事中国研究的机构之一，目的在于推进中国法律改革和改善中美关系。
据报道，蔡中曾也是耶鲁大学的校友，是当年台湾取得耶鲁大学法学博士第一人，还担任耶鲁大学的校董，2013年5月以年过八十的高龄过世。蔡崇信的父亲蔡中曾、祖父蔡六乘是台湾“常在法律事务所”创办人，该所以国际法律事务见长，当年台湾国际性的司法案件还不多见，“常在”很早就接办这类型案件。早期在台湾律师界，“常在法律事务所”与“理律法律事务所”可说是台湾独占鳌头的两大律师楼。据称蔡崇信的祖父当年还曾经接受过上海黑帮教父杜月笙的法律咨询，地位可见一斑，来台后，也经常承接行政院等官方大型法律案件的委托。 据报道称，“蔡爸爸”个性开朗活跃，还是桥牌好手，在好友口中的蔡中曾是位“天才”，很多新事物一学就上手，因此也把常在律师楼经营得有声有色；而蔡崇信则与父亲性格反差很大，个性非常低调稳重。
实习编辑/董欣鑫
为无讼投稿/tougao@wusongtech.com