Corporate types give Goodsill high marks

Readers of Corporate Board Member magazine have judged Goodsill Anderson Quinn & Stifel the best law firm to do business with in Honolulu.

New York's Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom was named the nation's top law firm in the poll, which appears in the magazine's July/August issue. The cover story ranks law firms in 50 metropolitan areas and identifies the top 21 national law firms.

Cades Schutte Fleming & Wright and Carlsmith Ball tied for second among Honolulu firms, followed by Kobayashi Sugita & Goda; and Watanabe Ing & Kawashima.

About 52,000 directors and general counsels of publicly held U.S. companies receive Corporate Board Member.

Nokia cuts sales forecast for second quarter

HELSINKI, Finland >> Nokia, the world's biggest cell phone maker, warned today that its sales will fall rather than rise in the second quarter compared with a year ago but said its earnings will be in line with previous estimates.

Nokia's shares finished up 55 cents at $12.55 in New York after closing up 5.9 percent to 14.10 euros on the Helsinki Stock Exchange. Analysts focused on the steady earnings forecast.

"Based on developments during April and May, the company sees second-quarter net sales declining by about 2 to 6 percent, compared with the earlier guidance of 2 to 7 percent yearly growth," the company said in a statement.

The new forecast put net sales within the range of 6.9 billion euros to 7.2 billion euros ($6.5 billion to $7 billion).

Nonetheless, Nokia said its earnings per share would be within a range of 0.18 euros to 0.20 euros (17 cents to 19 cents) which was in line with previous forecasts.

Adelphia fires Deloitte, acknowledges errors

PHILADELPHIA >> Adelphia Communications, under investigation for questionable accounting practices between the company and partnerships controlled by the family of founder John J. Rigas, said yesterday it had dismissed Deloitte & Touche as its accountant and acknowledged it had overstated its revenue for the years 2001 and 2000.

Meanwhile, Leonard Tow, chairman of Citizens Communications and Adelphia's largest minority shareholder, and another Citizens executive, Scott Schneider, resigned from the Adelphia board yesterday with Tow citing "ongoing serial disclosures of wrongdoing" at the company.

Tyco International replaces top attorney

CONCORD, N.H. >> Tyco International Ltd., the industrial conglomerate under investigation after its chief executive was indicted on sales tax evasion charges, announced yesterday that it has replaced its top company lawyer.

Mark A. Belnick was replaced by Irving Gutin as general counsel, a post he previously held, the company said in a statement that did not disclose the circumstances of Belnick's departure.

But Belnick's lawyer, Stanley Arkin, said his client was fired despite working "tirelessly to create a better and more effective corporate governance for Tyco."

European company BAE seeks to buy TRW

LONDON >> BAE Systems PLC, one of Europe's largest defense and aviation groups, said yesterday it has entered talks about possibly acquiring TRW Inc., a U.S. defense and automotive business.

Cleveland-based TRW already is the target of an unsolicited $6.7 billion takeover bid from Northrop Grumman Corp., a Los Angeles-based defense contractor. Northrop agreed last month to delay proceeding with its $53 a share bid for TRW until Sept. 30 while the companies negotiate a buyout deal.