RHTLaw Taylor Wessing hosted a seminar by English barristers and Queen Counsels from One Essex Court on 17 January 2013. The speakers presented on topics relating to interesting and developing areas of English law and arbitration procedure. Some of the topics covered include: Recent developments in English contract law (2) Contractual damages by Nicholas Strauss QC Contractual construction and rectification by Richard Gillis QC Entire agreement clauses and contractual estoppel: ‘Springwell’ by Henry Forbes Smith           In addition to our Partners and lawyers, a number of invited senior in-house counsels from banks and financial institutions attended the talk. The session also provided an excellent opportunity for the participants to connect with the Barristers and Queen Counsels in their chambers.

The Taylor Wessing Group ’s Slovakian team has secured a prominent new Counsel: the former two-time Slovakian Minister of Justice, Lucia Žitňanská, has joined the team in Bratislava as of 8 January 2013. She will be focusing on corporate, competition and insolvency law. Žitňanská explains her motivation for joining an international law firm: “After my educational activities and my political career as Minister of Justice, I am now looking forward very much to working as a lawyer again.” In light of Lucia Žitňanská’s expert knowledge of the Slovakian legal system as well as her theoretical expertise stemming from her academic work and her many years of experience working as an associate University professor, TaylorWessing e|n|w|c partner Andrej Leontiev expects a valuable contribution to the general development of the firm:  “We have cooperated with Lucia Žitňanská several times in the past – mainly in the context of events. We value her for being a true luminary in economic law.” Lucia Žitňanská completed her law studies at Comenius University in Bratislava. From 2002 to 2006 she was an associate professor at the Division of Commercial, Economic and Financial Law of Comenius University, as well as State Secretary of the Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic. From February to July 2006 and then again from 2010 to 2012 she was the Slovakian Minister of Justice. RHTLaw Taylor Wessing’s clients with interests in Central and Eastern Europe will benefit from the enhanced capabilities of the Slovakian office.

RHTLaw Taylor Wessing congratulates RHT Corporate Advisory on their appointment as the corporate secretarial agent by Union Steel Holdings Limited ("Union Steel"), a Mainboard Listed Company with effect from 3 January 2013. Founded in 1984, Union Steel started operations as YLS Steel Pte Ltd which was involved in the trading of ferrous scrap metal. Today, Union Steel consists of five subsidiary companies engaged in related businesses which comprise; (i) recycling of ferrous and non-ferrous scrap metal; (ii) trading of steel products and non-ferrous metal products; (iii) rental of sheet piles, steel plates and beams and (iv) provision of scaffolding services and related consultancy services, supply of scaffolding materials and skilled workers and buyback of used scaffolding materials. With almost 30 years of experience, Union Steel has established itself as a leading player in the metals and scrap industry in Singapore. Union Steel operates one-stop supply centres for the collection and recycling of ferrous and non-ferrous scrap metals and the trading of steel products and non-ferrous metal products. In April 2012, Union Steel added provision of scaffolding services and related consultancy services to strengthen its position as preferred partner for steel solutions. Union Steel has received several awards including the Enterprise 50 Award in 2003 and 2004, Fastest Growing 50 Certification and was ranked among the top small and medium enterprises in the annual Singapore 500 Small Medium Enterprises in 2004. It was awarded Singapore 1000 - Sales Turnover Growth Excellence Award in 2009 and achieved the Singapore International 100 Company status in 2010. RHTLaw Taylor Wessing’s Corporate and Securities Partner and Deputy Head, Mr Lawrence Wong and RHT Corporate Advisory's Senior Manager Ms Shirley Tan are the named Company Secretaries for Union Steel.

RHTLaw Taylor Wessing has won the Acquisition International 2012 legal award - Banking & Finance Law Firm of the Year: Singapore. The voting forms were sent out to over 90,000 individuals in the global legal and corporate finance community, 53,064 of these individuals are subscribers to the Acquisition International monthly magazine. Ms Amita Dutt, Partner of the Firm’s Banking & Finance and Real Estate Practice, was also recognised together with the award.