Please feel free to forward the newsletter to your colleagues and clients.

NEW MEMBERS

Nassau, Paris, Las Vegas, Logos

We are delighted to announce four new members of LAW.

Evans & Company – Nassau, Bahamas

Founded in 1987, Evans & Co has 6 lawyers in Nassau, Bahamas. Evans & Co. is known as a firm that is extremely competent in corporate and non-litigious commercial matters and over the past 6-8 years has been very active in the offshore business. They are a full service firm.

For further information, contact:
Evans & Company
Samuel H. Evans House
Shirley & Christie Streets
Nassau, Bahamas
Phone: +1 242 328 8510/1
Fax: +1 242 322 5942
www.tevanslaw.com
Primary Contact: Milton Evans
Email: milton@tevanslaw.com

Bernet Castagnet & Associes – Paris, France

Created in April 2003 by Laurent Bernet, Luc Castagnet and Jacques Wantz, a former partner of Shearman & Sterling, BCW & Associés is a general practice firm with 9 lawyers specialized in assisting French and foreign clients in corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, joint-ventures, litigation, arbitration and private international law. The firm has acquired a strong expertise in international transactions. It regularly advises clients in setting up operations abroad, such as acquisitions and joint ventures, as well as in relation with financings outside of France.

For further information, contact:
Bernet Castagnet Wantz & Associes
5 Avenue de l’Opera
75001 Paris, France
Phone: +33 1 42 84 84 70
Fax: +33 1 42 84 84 71
www.bcw-associes.com
Primary Contact: Jacques Wantz
Email: jwantz@bcw-associes.com

Gordon & Silver, Ltd. – Las Vegas, Nevada

Founded in 1967, Gordon & Silver, Ltd. is one of Nevada's oldest law firms. Originally specializing in complex litigation, Gordon & Silver, Ltd. has evolved with the explosive growth of Las Vegas to become one of Nevada's largest and most experienced law firms.

Gordon & Silver, Ltd. is divided into the following firm-wide departments: Complex Insolvency and Reorganization, Gaming and Administrative Law, Corporate and Real Estate, Litigation and Estate Planning, Probate and Guardianships. These broad departments are further subdivided into specialized practice groups, which stand ready to assist the Firm's clients with their ever-changing legal needs.

For further information, contact:
Gordon & Silver, Ltd.
3960 Howard Hughes Parkway
Ninth Floor
Las Vegas, Nevada 89109
Phone: +1(702) 796-5555
Fax: +1(702) 369-2666
Web Site: www.gordonsilver.com
Primary Contact: Jeffrey A. Silver
Email: jas@gordonsilver.com

Punuka Attorneys and Solicitors – Logos, Nigeria

Punuka Attorneys & Solicitors evolved from a merger between Punuka Chambers (established in 1947) and the practice of Chiedu Ebie, a legal practitioner and formerly one of the Partners in Okonjo, Odiawa and Ebie. Punuka Attorneys & Solicitors is a fully integrated and multi dimensional business law practice, with three (3) Partners and fifteen (15) Associates providing legal services to a highly diversified client base. The firm has offices in Lagos, Abuja and Asaba and is structured on a partnership basis.

For further information, contact:
Punuka Attorneys and Solicitors
P.O. BOX 70995
Victoria Island
Lagos, Nigeria
Phone: +234 1 2704789
Fax: +234 1 2704790
Web Site: www.punuka.com
Primary Contact: Anthony Idigbe
Email: a.idigbe@punuka.com

NEWS FROM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

I feel very privileged to be the first Executive Director of LAW. I have enjoyed getting to know all of you over the past six years and I look forward to seeing so many of you in Beijing. The last two months have been busy with the transition from Schmidt Marketing and setting up a new office as well as ongoing LAW business. Please send all communications to me at: halliemann@lawyersworldwide.com. I am phasing out the gmail account.

We anticipate having over 100 delegates as well as 43 accompanying persons in Beijing for the 18th Annual General Meeting.

The 2007 LAW Meetings will be held in the following locations:

• Europe, Africa and Middle East Regional Meeting: Cape Town, South Africa - Hosted by Marais, Muller Yekiso Inc. in April 2007
  
• Americas Regional Meeting: Vancouver, Canada – Hosted by Stewart and Winch on May 10 -12, 2007
  
• Asia Pacific Regional Meeting: Brisbane, Australia – Hosted by Baker Johnson Lawyers on May 17 – 19, 2007
  
• Annual General Meeting: Zurich, Switzerland – Hosted by Grüninger Hunziker Roth Rechtsanwälte in October 2007

Thanks to every firm that offered to host a meeting.

Please continue to send any information for the Newsletter to me: halliemann@lawyersworldwide.com

See you soon in Beijing,
Hallie

LAW EVENT

LAW Participates in Swedish-American Entrepreneurial Days

From August 21-23, 2006, American and Swedish entrepreneurs met in Lidköping Sweden for several days of business, trade and networking events. LAW members Björn Feijen (Stockholm, Sweden), Jan Pettersson (Trollhattan, Sweden), Niels R. Kiær (Oslo, Norway), and Bill Savarino (Washington, USA) attended the “E-Days” events in Lidköping and promoted LAW as a valuable resource to Swedish entrepreneurs in need of legal and business assistance, both in Europe and in the United States. The E-Days events drew hundreds of companies with diverse business interests. LAW manned a booth during the three-day event, which garnered interest from a host of businesses. In addition, the LAW members participated in pre-scheduled business-to-business meetings (matchmaking sessions) in which they met with specific businesses. Bill Savarino, the lone LAW member from America in attendance, was pleased he attended: “The Swedes have a strong desire to do business in America. They need advice from American lawyers on licensing, business entities, contracts, and finding distributors and manufacturers. The business potential for LAW is strong. I’m looking forward to participating in the next E-Days events in Sweden.”

Those interested in learning more about the Swedish-American E-Days event can go to the website: http://www.sacc-usa.org/lidkoping2006/.

October in Beijing is the best time of the year - the perfect time and place for the entire membership of Lawyers Associated Worldwide to gather for our 18th Annual General Meeting. Hosted by our Beijing LAW member, RayYin & Partners, PRC Lawyers, we will be joined by over 100 delegates from our member law firms all over the world, including observer firms from Bratislava, Slovakia; Prague, Czech Republic; Saskatchewan, Canada; and several important cities throughout China, plus a sizeable contingent of accompanying persons. All in all, this will be a magnificent turnout by over 90% of our members, many of whom will be traveling for the first time to a country that has a fascinating history and that has emerged as a major world economic force.

In our meetings we will learn much more about the history of China, its politics and culture, and its evolution from State-owned business enterprises to a market economy. We will discuss doing business in China from a wide variety of perspectives, gaining insights from the Chinese business and professional communities. We will also receive practical pointers on assisting clients with their efforts to start new Chinese business ventures on their own or through “strategic partnerships,” as well as tips from one of the foremost experts in the world about ways for foreign companies to protect their intellectual property rights when they do business in China.

There will also be plenty of time in our meetings and social events to get to know one another better and to learn more about the capabilities of all of our member law firms.

When you return home from this AGM, you should be much more knowledgeable about China and the opportunities and challenges that it will present to your clients in the coming years. You will also witness an organization (LAW) that is continuing to grow and anxious to find new ways to bring increased value to all of its member law firms.

It should be a great experience, and I look forward to seeing each of you in Beijing.

Sincerely,

Christopher C. McCracken
Chairman
Lawyers Associated Worldwide

LAW SUB-REGIONAL MEETINGS

2006 Canadian Sub-Regional Meeting – September 2006

Gagne Letarte hosted the first Canadian Sub-regional meeting on September 22, 2006 in Quebec City. It was attended by Canadian members of LAW from Edmonton, Quebec City, Toronto, and Winnipeg. There was also an observer from Saskatchewan, McKercher McKercher & Whitmore LLP.

The Canadian firms discussed work generation and recruiting in Western and Atlantic Canada.They discussed ways to exchange work between the Canadian LAW members in the specialties of patents, native law, securities and tax law. The group also had a conference call with Broad and Cassel (Florida) to discuss ways to promote the tax expertise of Broad and Cassel among Canadian residents who own US vacation properties and other US investments in Florida.

The attendees were very enthused about the meeting and there was a consensus among the Canadian members on the need to hold a Canadian Sub-Regional Meeting on a yearly basis.

Australasian Sub Group Meeting - August 2006

The Australasian Sub-Regional Meeting was held on the 18th of August 2006 and was hosted by Koffels Solicitors & Barristers in Sydney, Australia. Attendance included member representation from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Auckland.

The primary issue of concern for the Sub-Region was recruitment of new members. Due to the diversified cultures and geographic expanse of the area, recruitment was often complex and difficult to achieve. Potential members also had issues of financial viability of joining with often a big disparity between local economies and the US dollar driven nature of LAW. First hand recruitment was also hindered by the high cost of accessing the areas and the meeting resolved to seek funding to assist with recruitment. Drawcards for these areas however, could come in the form of educational opportunities in conjunction with meetings and/or the exchange of staff to enhance work referrals, training and experience.

Specific targets for future recruitment were: Malaysia, Indonesia, Korea, Sri Lanka, Darwin and Perth. The delegates were also interested to receive input from the recruitment drive to China previously undertaken by Chris McCracken and Hallie Mann.

Another topic of interest was that of work generation within the Region and Sub-Region. The targeting of specific national and regional companies could be undertaken by using the LAW regional network as a marketing tool.

The Meeting also discussed the recent appointment of the new Executive Director. A vote of thanks and appreciation to Schmidt Marketing was expressed.

Other topics of discussion included recent proposed changes to the Constitution of LAW, and voting procedures in the light of recent events. It was considered that greater communication of Minutes of Executive, Regional and Sub-Regional Meetings would greatly assist members to form considered opinions when being asked to vote on a given issue.

A vote of support to our Regional Executive Members was given.

The Meeting closed with dinner held at a landmark city restaurant in Sydney, aptly named “Machiavelli”.

NEWS FROM THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION

Koo Firm Obtains Business License in Record Time

Christine M. Koo & Ip, Solicitors & Notaries recently successfully assisted a US insurance company, Berkley Insurance Company ("BIC") to obtain a business license to carry on Reinsurance in Hong Kong. The work went smoothly and BIC was able to obtain the license to operate 5 months. It is a record for a brand new branch license.

RayYin & Partners Awarded by China CITIC Bank for Excellent Performance in Collection

July 2006, Mr. Zhou and Mr. Song, representing RayYin, attended a nationwide meeting held by Credit Card Center of China Citic Bank. Citic Bank nominate about 40 units, among which there are more than 10 law firms and a number of collection companies, to collect credit cards debts for Citic Bank. RayYin & Partners was awarded with the Best Business Performance Award of Credit Card Litigation Collection by Citic Bank for its great performance in debt collection for credit cards for the first half year of 2006.

Fontaine & Cia advising on major public works projects in Chile

For many years Chile has invested in improving the public infrastructure of the country through concessions. This has been achieved through competitive international bids involving many countries but predominately those from America, Spain, Italy and Britain. At present Fontaine & Cia is actively involved in advising 5 companies who are pursuing the following projects:

• Construction of 2 urban roads to improve the existing infrastructure surrounding the main avenue in Santiago, Alameda. The concession includes the operation and maintenance of the roads for 15 years.
• Construction, operation and maintenance of shops, a 400 car underground car park, a museum and exhibition rooms for the “International Centre for Culture”, which is part of the Government Palace building.
• Construction and maintenance of a new underground and bus station for Santiago.
• Construction, operation and maintenance of a dam to supply irrigation water to 22.000 hectares.

There are many other public works projects planned by Public Works Ministry for 2006, 2007 and 2008 and include the construction, operation and maintenance of highways, ports, railways, dams, bridges, jails, airport passenger terminals, hospitals, irrigation systems, drainage systems, transportation improvements, and highways. We have significant experience and expertise in all these fields.

For further information about public works projects to be developed in Chile in which Fontaine & Cia can advise, please visit www.moptt.cl Proyectos concesionados Proyectos a licitar.

Broad and Cassel welcome Brett Horowitz

Patricia Lebow, managing partner of the West Palm Beach office for Broad and Cassel, is pleased to announce the addition of Brett Horowitz, as an associate in the firm’s West Palm Beach office. Mr. Horowitz is a graduate of Brandeis University. He received his J.D. from Florida State University College of Law with high honors and served on the FSU Law Review. He is a member of the Order of the Coif, the National Legal Honor Society.

Broad and Cassel recognized in 2007 BEST LAWYERS IN AMERICA

Broad and Cassel is pleased to announce that 19 attorneys have received prominent recognition by top legal guide The Best Lawyers in America, published by Woodward and White. For more than 20 years, Best Lawyers has been widely recognized as one of the elite legal guides in the United States. Selection for Best Lawyers is based on a peer-review survey in which more than 1.5 million individual evaluations are reviewed.

We recognize the following Broad and Cassel listees:

• Boca Raton: Jeffrey Deutch
• Ft. Lauderdale: Gabriel L. Imperato, Beverly A. Pohl
• Miami: Ronald Albert, Jr., Michael A. Dribin, Mark Raymond, Mike Segal
• Orlando: Robert Alfert, Jr., C. Ken Bishop, C. David Brown II, Wanda Brown, Roy Kobert, James Slater, Michael Wilson
• Tallahassee: Kelly Overstreet Johnson, Douglas Rillstone, Cathy M. Sellers, Charles Stratton
• West Palm Beach: Edward J. Hopkins

NEWS FROM THE EUROPE, AFRICA & MIDDLE EAST REGION

Howard Kennedy Announces 4 New Partners

West End based Howard Kennedy has promoted four new partners bringing its total to 69: Steve Clinning (Banking), Humbert Mozzi (Property), Peter Paschalis (Property) and Craig Thompson (Corporate).

Peter A. Johns & Associates Attends Opening

Peter A. JOHNS and his Firm attended the opening of the high profile 3 Stars Michelin French Chef Joel ROBUCHON’s new Restaurant in London in September. Peter A. JOHNS participated in the decision to create Joel ROBUCHON’s new restaurants (“L’Atelier” and “La Table”) in London in the same building in the west end and structured the financing of the operation, negotiated the contracts and provided the assistance to achieve a multimillion London restaurant.

The opening was covered by the media such as BBC television and newspapers.

HERMANN rewarded as one of the 500 leading Law firms in Germany and mentioned among the top ten of firms specialised in insolvency and restructuring

The Frankfurt based German LAW-member firm is proud to announce that it has been recommended as one of the leading German law firms in the first German issue of the well known Legal500 digest. HERMANN has been awarded as one of the top ten firms specialised in insolvency and restructuring. The firm has a strong standing in this highly competitive market since years, not only since 2001, when founding partner Ottmar Hermann was appointed as insolvency administrator of the German construction giant Philipp Holzmann AG with more than 600 subsidiaries worldwide. In the past the firm was involved in many complex domestic and international insolvency cases such as Olivetti, Enron and Swiss Air. In the last year HERMANN continued to serve the German courts in major cases like actually in the insolvency proceeding of Georg von Opel, one of the leading GM-dealerships in Germany. In another recent case the firm had to deal with and was able to sell a portfolio of more than 500 railway stations across Germany. But HERMANN is not only acting in insolvency cases as court appointed administrator and is more and more involved in many restructuring cases and gives advise to mayor banks, creditors and companies in turnaround. HERMANN is happy to rely now in more and more cross-border insolvencies on the professional advice of other LAW-members with respect to legal issues in their countries.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

Before You are Interviewed – Plan Ahead
Nancy Eiler - Exponential

The best way and the only way for lawyers to control their media message is to run an advertisement. But as you know, this involves time, energy (extremely valuable commodities to lawyers) and money (often too much for a one-time ad). Therefore, when you agree to be interviewed by the media, always manage your risk by planning ahead.

Think of it as a one-time advertisement and make the most of the opportunity.

Planning ahead always gives you greater control of the message. There is a misconception that the reporter always controls the interview, but if you are clear about your purpose and how to deliver it, you can effectively control the direction. By being prepared, you can keep both the reporter and yourself focused on your message.

• Plan the message that you want to convey.
  Know what main message is to convey to the reporter and repeat it throughout the interview.
  
• Design your main message to be clear and concise.
  Always create it to be delivered in one complete sentence. When your message is easily understood and reiterated throughout, the chances of being quoted rise.
  
• Simplify, simplify.
  Modify your language to explain as if you were talking to an adult non-legal audience. In the US, we use the word “legalese” to describe legal language. Leave “legalese” in the office when dealing with reporters. Again, you will be more likely to be quoted when you eliminate complex terminology. For those rare times that complex terms are involved, provide a simplified and concise explanation or use a non-legal phrase in its place. Note: Do not oversimplify with a one word answer, however, but answer with a couple of sentences.
  
• Be Positive.
  Describe your messages in positive terms. Negative messages, although they may be true, are often what reporters want and could come back to haunt you or your client because the reporter amplified the negative.
  
• When you are unable to comment, don’t say, “No comment.”
  Always provide an answer that explains exactly why you are unable to comment. Reporters will be more likely to respect your directness if you don’t try to avoid answering and explain why you cannot. Examples of how to start are:

  “I don’t have that information available at this time because . . .” or
  “Right now, I will not comment on this because . . .”

• Always stay on the record.
  Most lawyers dealing with the media know this, but just in case you haven’t been interviewed – never give information off the record.
  
  Sometimes reporters will seemingly end the interview with all appearances that things are off the record. Until one of you exits the interview, assume you are always on the record.

The goal of media interviews is to position you as an expert, heighten your credibility, and control the message. Prior to interviews, practice your messages in advance on colleagues to hone them into precise communications and then experience positive public relations working for you -- without the ex

LEGAL UPDATE

New Development in Labor Law of China

The Labor Contract Law of China has been revised to enforce protection of workers (labors or employees) in the following four aspects: Restriction to Probation Period, Indemnity for Termination, Employment on a Placement Basis, and Duties of Employer Before and After Contract. The Draft of Labor Contract Law (hereinafter referred to as “the Draft”) has been submitted to the People’s Congress for review and approval.

For more information, please contact:
Jean (Jing) WU
Partner, Attorney at Law
RayYin &Partners
Tel: 0086-10-58693072/58691455
Fax: 0086-10-58693073
e-mail: wj@rayyinlawyer.com, lawyerwj@gmail.com
www.rayyinlawyer.com