Corner Offices Are Out; Collaboration Is In. Say Hello to the New Law Firm.
Business

Corner Offices Are Out; Collaboration Is In. Say Hello to the New Law Firm.

Associated media - Associated media There was “a lot of interior space and very little access to natural light,” said Kelley M. Bender, the firm’s chief operating partner. And retrofitting the old offices for current technology, including that needed for hybrid meetings, would be difficult. The firm also acknowledged that the work force had changed, requiring less space. Lawyers who commit to returning to work three days of week are assigned their own offices; those who don’t still have office space, “but not necessarily one with their name on the door,” Ms. Bender said. Chapman’s decision was in keeping with others in the Chicago market, said Daniel Arends, the chairman of the law firm services group at Colliers, a real estate services firm. He added that in the past nine years, 33 ...
The NATO Welcoming Sweden Is Larger, More Determined
World

The NATO Welcoming Sweden Is Larger, More Determined

Linked media - Associated media Still, with Hungary finally voting for Sweden’s accession to NATO, at last the pieces are falling into place for a sharply enhanced NATO deterrent in the Baltic and North Seas, with greater protection for the frontline states of Finland, Norway and the Baltic nations, which border Russia. Once Hungary hands in a letter certifying parliamentary approval to the U.S. State Department, Sweden will become the 32nd member of NATO, and all the countries surrounding the Baltic Sea, with the exception of Russia, will be part of the alliance. “Sweden brings predictability, removing any uncertainty about how we would act in a crisis or a war,” Mr. Dalsjo said. Given Sweden’s geography, including Gotland, the island that helps controls the entrance to the Baltic S...
Baseball Has Grown in Bogotá, Colombia, Thanks to Venezuelan Migrants
Sports

Baseball Has Grown in Bogotá, Colombia, Thanks to Venezuelan Migrants

Connected media - Associated media “Once you’re here, it doesn’t matter,” said Gabriel Arcos, a systems engineer who grew up cheering for a Leones rival in Venezuela and moved to Bogotá in 2016. “Maybe you don’t like the Leones of Caracas, but like I always say, these are the Leones of Bogotá.” Four years ago, when Iraida Acosta took over as president of the Leones, she said there were only six Venezuelan children. Now, she said, most of its 64 players are Venezuelan. Ms. Acosta, 54, said that in 2017, she and her 9-year-old son left their Venezuelan hometown near the Caribbean coast to visit her husband, who had come to Bogotá six months earlier to find work. They ended up staying because the economic opportunities were better. Still, it wasn’t easy. “The culture, although being bro...
China’s Country Garden Faces Winding Up Petition In Hong Kong
Business

China’s Country Garden Faces Winding Up Petition In Hong Kong

Linked media - Linked media More than 50 Chinese property developers have defaulted on debts since 2021. They have refused to repay overseas creditors while still making arrangements with Chinese banks for possible eventual repayment. Many of these developers have shares listed on the Hong Kong stock market or have borrowed there, or both. But creditors face formidable obstacles in seeking to recover loans from Chinese real estate developers through petitions to the court system in Hong Kong, said Zerlina Zeng, the head of East Asia corporate credits at CreditSights, a global credit research firm. Most of the assets of Chinese developers are in mainland China, where courts might not recognize liquidation orders from Hong Kong. Even if mainland courts order liquidation sales of develo...
$1 Billion Donation Will Provide Free Tuition at a Bronx Medical School
Health

$1 Billion Donation Will Provide Free Tuition at a Bronx Medical School

Associated media - Connected media When she focused on the bequest, she realized immediately what she wanted to do, she recalled. “I wanted to fund students at Einstein so that they would receive free tuition,” she said. There was enough money to do that in perpetuity, she said. Over the years, she had interviewed dozens of prospective Einstein medical students. Tuition is more than $59,000 a year, and many graduated with crushing medical school debt. According to the school, nearly 50 percent of its students owed more than $200,000 after graduating. At most other New York City medical schools, less than 25 percent of new doctors owed that much. Almost half of Einstein’s first-year medical students are New Yorkers, and nearly 60 percent are women. About 48 percent of current medical ...
How a Little Understood U.N. Court Became the Center of the Israel-Gaza Debate
World

How a Little Understood U.N. Court Became the Center of the Israel-Gaza Debate

Associated media - Associated media Israel denied the allegations, arguing that statements by Israeli government and military officials were taken out of context, and that its military has taken steps to preserve civilian lives. After the hearings, the Israeli government declassified a set of 30 secret orders which it said showed the effort to minimize casualties. . Just under a month after the case was filed, the court issued a series of “provisional measures,” similar to a temporary injunction, ordering Israel to refrain from genocidal acts, to prevent and punish incitement and to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza. The court, which stopped short of demanding that Israel halt its military offensive, also ordered Israel to send a report within one month detailing the measures it had t...