GvW Graf von Westphalen (Germany) announced that there are significant changes in the German Act on notification of conditions governing an employment relationship (“Nachweisgesetz“) as of 1 August – companies are at risk of fines. Click here for a letter with additional details. Please forward this information to your clients who have employees in Germany.

Parsons Behle & Latimer (Utah) announced they officially welcomed a total of 31 new attorneys to the firm who previously practiced at Jones Waldo Holbrook & McDonough (Jones Waldo). With more than 180 attorneys, this move solidifies Parsons as one of the largest preeminent law firms in the Intermountain West. Today, Parsons also announces that for the first time in its 140-year history, it has opened a new, full-service office in Park City, Utah, bringing its total to eight offices in the Intermountain Region. The firm also announced that Erik A. Christiansen was sworn in as the president-elect of the Utah State Bar. Christiansen is a shareholder and bet-the-company litigator at Parsons with more than 30 years’ experience in high-stakes litigation. He is also the recipient of numerous accolades in the legal and educational communities. Christiansen will serve as president-elect from July 2022 through July 2023 after which he will serve as president of the Utah State Bar from July 2023 through July 2024. In addition to being a seasoned litigator on Parsons’ litigation practice team, Christiansen has devoted years of service to his alma mater the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah, serving as an adjunct professor of law, and being named Alumnus of the Year in 2019. He has been ranked by numerous legal ranking publications, including Chambers & Partners, Best Lawyers in America, Mountain States SuperLawyers, and “Utah Legal Elite” Utah Business Magazine. Christiansen maintains a Martindale-Hubbell AV® Preeminent™ rating.

SCG Legal is pleased to welcome GOLAW (Ukraine) to its global network!

Founded in 2003 in Kyiv, the firm has 54 attorneys with practices that include: agribusiness, retail and FMCG, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, banking and finance, energy/renewable energy, transportation and infrastructure, internet technology, and real estate.

GOLAW is a leading Ukrainian law firm operating in compliance with international standards. The firm has been recognized in several prominent international and Ukrainian rankings, such as The Legal 500 EMEA, Chambers & Partners, IFLR 1000, Best Lawyers, Who is Who Legal, «Legal Awards» etc. In addition, for the last eight years, GOLAW has been ranked among the TOP 10 Leading Law Firms of Ukraine.

Amit, Pollak, Matalon & Co. (Israel) announced that James Raanan will be joining as a partner in the Hi-Tech and Venture Capital department and head of the firm’s telecom’s activities. James has many years of experience in representing private and public companies, with an emphasis on M&A, venture capital, private equity, and a broad range of complex commercial transactions. James represents carriers and companies throughout the telecom ecosystem. Additionally, James has considerable experience in the fintech space, working with banks, payments companies and fintech-platform providers. James began his career in the corporate department of another large Israeli law firm before leaving to join IDT Telecom (a global telecom and payments company and part of IDT Corporation, which is traded on the NYSE), where he stayed for almost 20 years and served as General Counsel. Before joining our firm he ran his own boutique practice where he worked closely as corporate counsel to public and private companies in the telecom and fintech industries. James is admitted as an attorney in Israel (1998) and New York (2007) and attained his law degree from the University of Manchester, England.

Carney Badley Spellman (Washington) announced Matt Wiese has joined the firm and is the Chair of the Carney’s Estate Planning Practice Group. He focuses primarily in the areas of trusts and estates, closely held family business structures, and international and domestic taxation for high-net-worth individuals. He helps clients through all stages of estate planning, including probate and trust administration. He advises foreign and domestic clients on U.S. federal income, gift, and estate tax matters. Matt has also worked on significant sales of privately held companies and helps business owners with succession planning and general business law.

Richards, Layton & Finger (Delaware) announced new Directors Matthew D. Perri and Drew G. Sloan, and Counsel Jake Crosetto. Matthew Perri focuses his practice primarily on litigation in the Delaware Court of Chancery and the Delaware Supreme Court. He handles complex corporate governance, corporate control, fiduciary duty, contractual, appraisal, and other commercial disputes. Matt also assists special committees of boards of directors in investigations relating to stockholder demands and whistleblower complaints. Matt is recognized in The Best Lawyers in America. He has a BA from Binghamton University and a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. Drew Sloan advises clients on Delaware alternative entity matters, with a particular focus on private equity funds and structured finance transactions. He provides counsel and legal opinions in connection with a wide range of formation, operational, and governance matters involving Delaware partnerships and limited liability companies. Drew serves on the board of directors of the American Red Cross of the Delmarva Peninsula. He earned a BA, with honors, from Rutgers University and a JD from Villanova University School of Law. Jake Crosetto focuses on a broad range of transactional matters, with an emphasis on transactions involving Delaware entities. He assists with numerous aspects of structured finance transactions and advises on secured transactions, debtor-in-possession lending, mergers and acquisitions, and venture capital investments. Jake received a BA, cum laude, from Lycoming College and a JD from Temple University School of Law.

WeirFoulds (Ontario) announced that Ben Kates has joined the partnership effective June 6, 2022. As the newest addition to the partnership, Ben brings a wealth of experience in practising civil litigation for public and private sector clients, and has also acted as counsel to a number of industry regulators. Ben brings expertise in civil, corporate-commercial, and administrative matters, having handled corporate and contractual disputes, as well as professional liability, media defamation, and class actions. Ben joins the firm from the Law Society of Ontario, where he served as Discipline Counsel. Throughout his career, Ben has litigated for a boutique Canadian law firm, helped to launch a consultancy based in London, UK focused on strategic risk, been an active member of is a current member of The Advocates’ Society’s 10+ Committee, and has written numerous articles in a range of publications. The firm also announced the successful challenge to anti-LGBTQ laws in Antigua and Barbuda. On July 5, 2022, Antigua and Barbuda’s High Court of Justice declared laws which criminalize consensual, private, same-sex intimacy between adults to be unconstitutional. With this landmark decision, Antigua and Barbuda becomes the first country in the Eastern Caribbean to strike down its “buggery and serious indecency laws” as unconstitutional. WeirFoulds LLP and Partner Nadia Chiesa have supported this Constitutional challenge since it was launched by the Eastern Caribbean Alliance for Diversity and Equality (ECADE) in 2020. This case is part of ECADE’s five-country legal challenge to laws deemed unconstitutional and an impediment to the human rights and dignity of the region’s LGBTQ+ community. Nadia Chiesa and WeirFoulds LLP worked as part of a team of lawyers from across the Caribbean dedicated to social justice, including Douglas Mendes SC, Andrew O’Kola, and Veronica S.P. Cenac, as well as the Faculty of Law UWI Rights Advocacy Project, to support ECADE in this litigation. The firm also announced that a number of lawyers have been selected to serve on the Ontario Bar Association’s Law Sections as Law Section executives for the 2022-2023 year.