The following financial services industry appointments were announced on Monday. To inform us of other job changes, send an email to moves@thomsonreuters.com.

CONSTELLATION WEALTH ADVISORS

The independent multi-family investment company said it hired Christopher Smith as a principal. Smith was a director of the corporate client group at RBC Capital Markets.

LEGAL & GENERAL INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT

Chicago-based investment manager Legal & General Investment Management America said it hired Aaron Meder in a new role as head of U.S. pension solutions. Meder was a managing director and head of asset-liability investment solutions at UBS Global Asset Management.

MAYER BROWN

The law firm said it hired Dallas Parker from Thompson & Knight as a partner in its corporate and securities practice in Houston.

FRANKLIN TEMPLETON INVESTMENTS

The investment company named Adam Gorlyn vice president of its sovereign funds and supranationals group. Gorlyn worked as a portfolio specialist with the Franklin Templeton Fixed Income group.

KNIGHT CAPITAL GROUP INC (NITE.O)

The firm named Didier Bankole vice president of sales for its electronic trading group (ETG) in Europe. Bankole joins Knight from NYSE Euronext (NYX.N) where he was in charge of global account management.

LASALLE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT

LaSalle Investment Management appointed Andy Watson to the newly created role of head of core funds and separate accounts, continental Europe. Watson previously worked as international director in the company's Paris office.

T. ROWE PRICE GROUP (TROW.O)

The investment management firm named Michael Joehr as a client service executive focused on southern Europe and Switzerland. Most recently Joehr was senior relationship manager with Allianz Global Investors Europe GmbH.

A leading law firm has been found "in contempt" of the Commons after threatening an MP with legal proceedings if he made allegations about one of its clients in the House.

The Standards and Privileges Committee criticised Withers LLP for failing to realise that John Hemming, a Liberal Democrat backbencher, was protected by Parliamentary privilege.

The firm of solicitors had urged the MP to withdraw what they called "defamatory" claims about property developer Jeremy Knight Adams.

They later sought an assurance that he would not repeat the allegations in the Commons, saying that without it they would issue proceedings.

Mr Hemming refused to give the undertaking and advised that the firm's actions might be regarded as contempt of Parliament. Withers dismissed his warning as "inappropriate".

Only after consulting counsel, following a further warning from Clerk of the House Malcolm Jack, did Withers accept it had been "mistaken" and apologised to the Commons and Mr Hemming.

For Stephanie Conner, it’s about independence and fewer distractions. For Alison Rapping, it’s about not paying office rent. And for Jackie Wright, it’s about touting both of those things to prospective clients.

The trio are among an increasing number of small-business owners who work out of their homes.

They all say economic changes, new technologies and a more personalized approach to client services are blasting away old stereo­types, allowing home-based businesses to be taken just as seriously as larger companies with offices and conference rooms.

“My day is so efficient now,” said Rebecca Golden, owner of Phoenix Web design firm Website Garden. “I literally wake up, brush my teeth and start working.”

U.S. News and Best Lawyers, the leading survey of lawyers worldwide, announced last year that the two publications have teamed up for an expansion of U.S. News's signature "America's Best" series to include new rankings of "America's Best Law Firms" and "America's Best Law Firms to Work For."

We want to give an update on the status of these new rankings. The ranking projects continue to make progress on the collection of client references and associate references from law firms. The vast majority of America's major law firms have provided the requested information. As with other rankings published by U.S. News, we believe that we will be able to secure from various sources quantitative data concerning those law firms that do not provide the requested statistical data directly to U.S. News and Best Lawyers.

Combined with the qualitative reviews of the firms by clients —more than 50,000 client references have already been accumulated—and qualitative peer-reviews by leading lawyers, this will enable the publication of valid rankings for all major law firms, both large and small, across the United States in the inaugural year. In time, it is expected that an increasing number of the ranked law firms will participate in the process.

Four law firms have been included in this year's Workplace Equality Index compiled by gay rights charity Stonewall.

The index, which ranks the top 100 gay-friendly employers in the UK, included Simmons & Simmons as the highest-ranked law firm in 15th place, up from 31st place last year.

Elsewhere, Pinsent Masons ranks 36th, up from 50 in 2009, Herbert Smith moves from 77th to 56th position and Eversheds has risen to 85th up from 100 last year.

In total, 24 law firms submitted entries to Stonewall this year.

Computing giant IBM topped the rankings for the second time in four years, replacing last year's winner Lloyds TSB.

The process sees companies nominate themselves to participate through an online survey giving evidence of their policies. An anonymous staff survey is then carried out, which this year saw 7,000 lesbian, gay and bisexual participants. The top 20 finalists are then separately audited.

Stonewall chief executive Ben Summerskill said: "We received more entries than any previous year from employers who understand and have benefited from Stonewall's research which found that gay people are far more likely to buy goods or services from companies they know are gay-friendly."