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The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has made its business tax regime more aggressive by including internet information requirements.

UK firm Linklaters & Alliance is rumoured to be in secret merger talks with Australian firm Mallesons Stephen Jaques. Mallesons is keen to merge with a London firm and last year terminated merger talks with Clifford Chance. The merger would come after a year of activity for Linklaters & Alliance who agreed a merger with Oppenhoff & Rädler, to take effect in January 2001, and in August announced a joint venture with Singapore firm Allen & Gledhill.

The UK Inland Revenue is giving a boost to the schemes that provide tax incentives to firms investing in small, higher-risk trading companies. A centralized service ? the Small Company Enterprise Centre ? is to be made available for companies using the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS), the Venture Capital Trust (VCT) scheme, the Enterprise Management Incentives (EMI) scheme and the new Corporate Venturing Scheme (CVS).

Clifford Chance is in discussions to continue its European expansion. The firm is in merger talks with Italian joint venture partner Grimaldi e Associati and is rumoured to be in discussions with Austrian firm Wolf, Theiss & Partners. Clifford Chance refused to comment.

Jones Day Reavis & Pogue has increased its tax presence in Europe with the appointment of five tax lawyers in its Brussels and London offices. The Brussels office is gaining a partner and two associates while the London office gets two associates. Howard Liebman joins the Brussels office as partner, having previously been both managing partner and tax partner at Morgan Lewis & Bockius. The focus of his work at Jones Day will remain similar to his work at Morgan Lewis: "I'm particularly focused on international tax and corporate structuring ? including heavy doses of M&A, joint venture structuring and planning, and corporate reorganizations."

Corine Sheldon US law firm Hogan & Hartson has hired Corine Sheldon, a tax and finance lawyer who trained in France, to join its London office. Sheldon arrives from UK firm Hammond Suddards Edge, where she spent three years. Prior to that, Sheldon spent six years in corporate finance at PricewaterhouseCoopers in France, London and the US. Sheldon left Hammond Suddards because she wanted to work in a more international firm and was particularly attracted to the idea of strengthening the corporate finance practice at Hogan & Hartson, where she will be dealing with all of the international tax structuring. "Hogan & Hartson's project to strengthen its European corporate finance practice is extremely attractive. Reinforcing the international tax capabilities will support the development of the corporate finance practice. My focus will be mainly on the telecoms industry," she said. Bernard Gilbey, a tax partner at the London office of Hammond Suddards, says of her departure: "It's always disappointing when someone goes, but she was doing a very particular type of work and felt that she could do it better elsewhere. We wish her well, but life goes on."

Osborne Clarke's pan-European group ? Osborne Westphalen Alliance (OWA) ? is experiencing a period of considerable growth. Since October it has announced the addition of three new members to the OWA alliance, a possible merger with one of these firms, and a new office opening in Silicon Valley that will concentrate on technology work.

Russell Jacobs Russell Jacobs has joined the global capital markets practice of international law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy in London. He will be a tax partner, and is the only tax lawyer at the London office. Jacobs was previously a partner in the tax department of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft's London office. Prior to Cadwalader he worked at Denton Wilde Sapte and Slaughter and May.

Jeff VanderWolk Jeff VanderWolk has rejoined Baker & McKenzie as a tax partner after a five-year stint with Deloitte & Touche. VanderWolk will be based in the London office and will be responsible for building up a US practice in the UK. He expects to start recruiting US capabilities soon. Baker & McKenzie already has a US tax team in Zurich as well as one US tax partner in Paris. These offices have been largely responsible for serving Europe on the US tax side. "But I think the London partners have been thinking about it for some time and because of my previous time with the firm and the fact that they knew me, I think I was a fairly natural choice for them," he says.

Credit Suisse First Boston and ING Barings turned to Davis Polk and Wardwell in connection with a rule 144A/Regulation S offering of $200 million in shares by Jomed NV. The shares are being offered publicly in Switzerland. Holland-based Jomed is a European medical technology company that specializes in the development and manufacture of stents for cardiology.