Around 280 partners and staff from Loeff Claeys Verbeke will join international firm Allen & Overy in the new year. A new firm, Claeys& Engels, will emerge from part of the labour lawpractice of the Belgian firm that has opted to remain independent

Stanbrook & Hooper has gained EU law expertScott Crosby, previously a name partner at Kemmler Rapp Böhlke Crosby

RobbertSnelders has been elected as a partner at ClearyGottlieb Steen and Hamilton's Brussels office

Norton Rose has attractedcompetition experts Jean-Patrice de la Laurencieand Laure Givry, and experienced corporatefinance lawyer Eric Laplante, all previouslywith Coudert Frères

Sullivan &Cromwell has announced the addition of three new lateralpartners as of January. Richard Vilanova isjoining from Stibbe Simont Monahan Duhot & Giroux,while Gérard Mazet and Jean-PierreLe Gall are moving on from Jeantet etAssociés

Pascal Coudin will leaveJeantet et Associés in January to join the tax teamat Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. Jeantet hasalso lost intellectual property partner PierreLenoir to Andersen Legal

In ClearyGottlieb Steen and Hamilton's Paris office Marie-Laurence Tibi has been promoted to partner

Two new partners have joined Ashurst Morris Crisp's Frankfurt office. The corporate teamhas gained Dr Hermann Schlindwein from Linklaters & Alliance member firm Oppenhoff &Rädler, while Gary Watson has leftHammond Suddards Edge in London to reinforce Ashursts' property group

Tobias Geerlinghas taken his expertise in tax from Clifford ChancePünder to Weil Gotshal & Manges. He hasbeen joined by banking and finance specialist Dr TomSchorling, previously with Gaedertz

SJBerwin has opened an office in Munich under the leadershipof Dr Uwe Steininger, whose position as head ofBaker & McKenzie's German venture capital group hasnow been filled by Dr Walter Henle. Seven ofSteininger's colleagues have followed him toMunich, while partner Frank Vogel has moved toSJ Berwin's Berlin office

In Frankfurt, Gabriele Apfelbacher has joined the partnership at Cleary Gottlieb Steen and Hamilton

In the lead up to theirmerger in January 2001, Linklaters & Alliance andOppenhoff & Rädler have jointly appointed sevennew German partners: Dr Sebastian Benz, Fabian Ehlers, Dr Carl-Peter Feick, Dr Harald Gesell, Dr JochenLaufersweiler, Stephan Müller andDr Christoph Wäger

Köves Clifford ChancePünder has set up a tax advisory service in Hungary

Clifford Chance and Grimaldi have officially announced their merger, effective1st January 2001

Simmons & Simmons has appointedAntonio di Pasquale as a partner in itscorporate practice in Rome

The project finance team at Allen & Overy's Milan office has grown with theappointment of partners Franco Vigliano andCatia Tomasetti, both formerly at ChiomentiStudio Legale

Linklaters & Alliance memberfirm Gianni Origoni & Partners has selected formerSecretary General of the Italian Antitrust Authority, Alberto Pera, to lead its EU and competitiondepartment

Jersey based Mourant Grouphas attracted Shearman & Sterling partner Rupert Walker to its Corporate Property Structuresbusiness

Luxembourg firm Arendt& Medernach is entering into a strategic alliance withDillon Eustace of Dublin, a move that will link the twofirms' investment funds divisions.

Ton Neverdeen has taken hisexpertise in banking and securities law to CliffordChance in Amsterdam, moving from Andersen Legalgroup member Wouters Advocaten & Notarissen

Callista Meijer has joined the competitiondepartment as senior associate at Wouters Advocaten &Notarissen, leaving her post as Deputy General Counsel ofDutch airline KLM

Lovells' Polish practice isset to grow over the next few months, with the addition of sixpartners from CMS Cameron McKenna. Those joining areJanusz Adamkowski, BeataBalas-Noszczyk, Andrezj Debiec,Jolanta Nowakowska-Zimonch, KarolRutkowski and Marek Wroniak.

White & Case has expandedits capacity in the energy sector in Moscow, hiring projectfinance experts Marc Polonsky from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and MaximLevinson from Russian oil group Yukos

Taxexpert Robert Fort has moved from CliffordChance to take charge of tax work at Deloitte ToucheTohmatsu

Allen & Overy's Moscow office willhave a new managing partner in January 2001, when PeterTimchur takes over from Calvin Walker,who is returning to the firm's London office

Clifford Chance's corporatepractice in Madrid has grown with the appointment of José María Fernández Daza and Alberto Manzanares, both previously managing partners oftheir own law firms

In Madrid, Linklaters &Alliance has added partners ÁlvaroSáinz and Alejandro Ortiz fromGarrigues & Andersen. JavierFernández-Samaniego from Cuatrecasas, Luis Peinado from Ernst& Young and Gonzalo Lopez from Castro Sueiro y Varela have joined the firm as seniorassociates

UK firm Pinsent Curtis andSwedish firm Magnusson Wahlin have entered into astrategic alliance

Litigation partner Tom Keevil will move on from Simmons &Simmons at the end of the year to become senior legaladviser at Gallaher Group Plc

AndrewShutter has been elected as partner in ClearyGottlieb Steen and Hamilton's London office

In JanuarySidley & Austin's London office will losesecuritisation partner Robert Plehn when hemoves to Dutch bank ING Barings. Structured financeexpert Marc Wassermann is re-locating from Sidley's Washington DC practice to the London office

Leedsbased Walker Morris has added Irwin Mitchellpartner Malcolm Simpson to its commerciallitigation team

Partner Mark Harding has beenwelcomed back to the global finance team at CliffordChance, returning to private practice after serving asGeneral Counsel at UBS Warburg and as Chairman of theBoard of International Swaps and Derivatives Association(ISDA)

Fladgate Fielder has welcomed thearrival of corporate partner Peter Bohm fromBarnett Alexander Chart

Roger Parkerhas become managing partner at Richards Butler inLondon, taking the reins from Chris Schulten

The European capital markets team at Davis Polk &Wardwell's London office will grow in January, with thearrival of Luigi De Ghenghi from JPMorgan

Tite & Lewis, the legal arm ofErnst & Young, has added Tamara Box toits structured finance team, after she resigned from OrrickHerrington & Sutcliffe

Special Risks ServicesUnderwriting Agency Ltd has made two in-house appointments,taking on Tatiana Desjobert from Mobiland Mary O'Neill from Dublin law firm ArthurCox

International consultancy GIBB Ltd hasrecruited environmental expert Dr LawrenceThorne

London based Rakisons has appointedRex Nwakodo from Jeffrey Green Russellas partner in its corporate group

consultant LubnaAzhar has joined the firm's communications department,leaving her in-house role at PricewaterhouseCoopers

Pensions partners Peter Ford and LesleyBrowning have left Nabarro Nathanson to joinNorton Rose's London office

Bristows' IP teamhas welcomed as assistants Dominic Dryden fromSlaughter & May and Alex Wilsonfrom Australian firm Allen Allen & Hemsley

Stefan Schmitz has left his position in Munich asGeneral Counsel at Premiere Medien to work as seniorassociate at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe's newGerman desk in London

Andersen Legal associated firmGarretts has announced the closure of its Leedspractice, and will be effecting a complete transfer of allpartners and staff to DLA, formerly Dibb LuptonAlsop, by the end of the year

Five partners have left Berrymans Lace Mawer. London office senior partner David Wilkinson has moved to LeBoeuf Lamb Greene& Macrae

construction specialist MatthewNeedham-Lang has joined Fenwick Elliott, andStephen Walsh, Kathryn Olfieldand Michael Renshaw have joined the insuranceteam at Badhams

Midlands firm Lee Crowder hasattracted Zafar Rafiq from GateleyWareing to its expanding insolvency practice

Eversheds has lost its head of international banking,David Halliday, to US firm BuchananIngersoll

Michael Bell has moved fromErnst & Young to Osborne Clarke's growingcorporate tax practice. Matthew Bennett has beenpromoted to tax partner within the firm, and StuartLong has joined the team from Barnett AlexanderChart

Property partner Louise Andersonhas left CMS Cameron McKenna to join White &Case

Denton Wilde Sapte has appointed David Birchall as a partner in its energy andinfrastructure department, attracting him from HerbertSmith

In February 2001, JessicaLearmond-Criqui will be joining the employment team atAltheimer & Gray, moving on from FladgateFielder