Sri Lanka will hire a global law firm to provide technical assistance on debt restructuring ahead of talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the country's economic crisis, a top official said on Tuesday.

Capital-hungry smaller Chinese startups are vying for speedy offshore listings by merging with blank-check firms at a time when Beijing's tighter scrutiny has slowed capital raising via overseas IPOs, company executives and bankers said.

At least 20 international law firms were operating in Moscow before Russia invaded Ukraine in February, setting off waves of Western sanctions. Some firms have said they are closing their Moscow offices due to the invasion. Others said they are still considering their next steps, including the future of their work for Russian clients.

Major international law firms with Russia offices, including White & Case, Baker McKenzie and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, are scrambling to respond this week as an intensifying sanctions web puts some clients off limits and threatens their business in Moscow.

Singapore's highest court on Monday dismissed a challenge by three gay rights activists against a law criminalising sex between men, ruling that since authorities did not enforce the law it did not breach plaintiffs' constitutional rights.

Shearman & Sterling has added to its capital markets practice in the Asian market by rehiring a former lawyer for its Hong Kong office, the firm said Monday.

Dentons has hired its first global head of environmental, social and governance (ESG) to do work touching both on the 12,000-attorney law firm's own strategy and its services for clients, the firm said Thursday.

New York-based Shearman & Sterling is continuing to expand in London, and has added a Jones Day international arbitration partner, the firm said Monday.

Chicago-based litigation firm Bartlit Beck wants a judge to stop global law firm Dentons from withdrawing as counsel for a Japanese pachinko billionaire from whom it's seeking to collect millions of dollars in legal fees.

Arent Fox and Schiff Hardin will merge in a deal set to take effect March 1, the pair said in a statement on Wednesday.