Instructions of the week - 7.11.2002

The most prestigious new instruction of the week has actually come from a US firm.

Morrison & Foerster has been named as international legal counsel to the Beijing Organising Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games.

It will advise on marketing, media, intellectual property, venue construction, procurement, entertainment, technology and other related matters.

City firm CMS Cameron McKenna is part of the consortium - led by US investment fund Advent International - that has been selected to advise on the privatisation of the Bulgarian telecoms industry.

Linklaters is advising the syndicate of international banks within the consortium, while Denton Wilde Sapte is working with Deutsche Bank, advising the Bulgarian government.

Back home, it has all been happening in the north-east.

Eversheds has won the brief to advise Cleveland Potash following its recent sale from Anglo American to ICL Fertilizers, which is now one of the largest potash makers in the world.

The firm acted for Anglo American on the sale.

Newcastle firm Dickinson Dees has been selected to work with the shareholders of Teesside International Airport as they move ahead with plans to appoint a private sector strategic partner.

Fellow Geordie firm Watson Burton's construction department has been instructed by major London property developer St James Group.

Yorkshire firm Rollits is to act for the newly formed Charity Bank, which was launched last month by Chancellor Gordon Brown.

It is the first bank in the UK with registered charity status and will provide loans at preferential rates to charities which do not have access to mainstream lending facilities.

Pinsent Curtis Biddle has won a competitive tender to act for Leeds Metropolitan University, which has around 37,000 students and 2,500 staff.

Cobbetts has acted for Leeds-based Pantheon Financial for the first time, advising on the purchase of Scunthorpe-based Unitas Investments for an undisclosed sum.

Leeds firm Lupton Fawcett acted for Unitas.

East Anglian firm Mills & Reeve has won a competitive tender to advise the General Teaching Council for England, a new independent professional body which combines statutory, advisory and regulatory powers.

The firm will investigate and present cases to the council's conduct and competence committees.

City firm Charles Russell has acted for new client 3DM Worldwide on the move from trading on OFEX to the Alternative Investment Market.

City firm DLA has been appointed as adviser to the administrators of Leicester City football club.