IBA President Almudena Arpón de Mendívil addressed delegates at the Opening Ceremony, highlighting Mexico’s impressive history of art and culture and its powers of reinvention in order to become one of the world’s largest economies. She concludes with a reminder of the importance of the rule of law and what lawyers can do to uphold it.

What an honour and a great pleasure to welcome you to the IBA 2024 Annual Conference as President of this great Association. What a privilege it is to hold this flagship event for the IBA and for the entire legal profession here in Mexico City, in México lindo y querido.

And what a great opportunity the Conference offers us to get inspired by this country’s impressive history and culture, the beauty of this land and most of all, by the Mexican people. Mexico’s blend of cultures and traditions found its expression in the murals of Rivera and the paintings of Frida, in the poetry of Sor Juana and the essays of Nobel Prize winner Octavio Paz. A country devoted to the Virgin of Guadalupe, that also prays to Mother Earth and Nature, a country that celebrates its past and embraces its future.
 
A nation that is in the constant process of remaking itself which has led to it joining the ranks of the world’s largest economies. A nation which has followed a deepening process of democracy, an achievement which should not be weakened and to which I will refer later. A nation that, for the first time in 200 years of Mexican history, will have a woman, Claudia Sheinbaum, as President of Mexico. What an impact this may have to foster female gender equality in Mexico and in the entire world. And, more broadly, what a unique occasion for the president-elect to showcase the qualities that have led her to her unprecedented victory: wisdom, independent judgement, leadership and courage – the courage to overcome adverse times governing a country with the huge potential Mexico has, under the rule of law.

Allow me to start with the acknowledgements. Thank you to the Host Committee led by its Co-Chairs, Claus von Wobeser, Daniel del Río, Mariana Herrero, Luis Gonzalez Nieves and all its members. Your help on multiple fronts has been of immense value.

I thank all the senior officers: the Vice-Presidents, the Secretary General, the heads of Divisions and of the Human Rights Institute. Your leadership brings us success on all IBA fronts.

Thank you to the IBA staff led by our remarkable Executive Director, Dr Mark Ellis. They excel to make our Conference not only possible, but even better every year.

However, today my special recognition goes to two groups: first, to the committee and fora officers. It is their work that allows the IBA to offer the more than 200 top sessions about the most relevant topics during our Conference week.

Last but not least, the IBA would not be at the amazing point it is today without the outstanding legacy of its past Presidents. We are honoured having with us this evening Fernando Pelaez-Pier, David Rivkin, Martin Šolc and Horacio Bernardes Neto. You have our admiration. 

The Conference has gathered together more than 4,000 lawyers from around the world with different backgrounds, religions, legal systems and areas of practice. This Conference brings us the chance to realise the breadth and depth of our profession, and of our joint strength and power.
 

Thus, this gathering may not go unnoticed. My aspiration for this Conference is to generate a positive impact in each of you, in the legal profession, and especially in Mexico and the Latin American region.

The IBA presence in Mexico takes place at an historic moment – the United Nations Day of Democracy – which addresses the state of democracy in the world. In the region, some countries have totally departed from democracy – Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia – whilst the erosion of democracy and of the rule of law is quickly spreading to other countries: Ecuador, Colombia. And Mexico, which has for years been the nation within the region to look at, is nowadays taking steps such as the Constitutional Reform approved last week, that can risk the independence of the judiciary, the rule of law, democracy and thus, the achievements gained for Mexican citizens in previous years with enormous effort.

I take this opportunity to strongly commend the entire Mexican legal profession and its leaders, for their outstanding, rigorous and peaceful support of the separation of powers during the reform process. Dear Mexican colleagues: you are not alone. The IBA is here with you, not only this week. We shall continue supporting you with serenity and strength.

Now, the problem of erosion of the rule of law is increasingly topical as it not only threatens democracy and human rights protection – as if those were not enough – but also sustainable and inclusive economic growth. Citizens’ quality of life then becomes seriously damaged.
 

The legal profession can and must use its joint strength to remedy this situation. Our work impacts society. The IBA, conscious of the importance of providing evidence on how the legal profession contributes to society, has been guided by the opportunity we could create together, measuring, for the first time, the value of the rule of law and of the social and economic impact of the legal profession. With this purpose, in June this year we issued a landmark report: the IBA Impact Report.

The resulting data confirms that the efforts of the more than 12 million lawyers globally weave the tapestry allowing the rule of law to operate at its best. I share with you three areas showing the impact of our improvement of the rule law: impact on poverty; impact on innovation – where an improvement in the rule of law could unlock an investment of $83bn; and impact on education – where 30 per cent more girls could graduate from secondary education.

And so, given that we now know the impact of our work, given that we know now its scale, it is critical that we assume our responsibility of making our impact even greater. The IBA is already working towards that goal. It is committed to playing a leading role in driving a collective effort across the legal community to uphold the rule of law, in Mexico, in Latin America and around the world.

Isn’t this gathering even more exciting now that we are aware of its capability, of our capability to generate impact? I hope you will agree with me in that not only is it so, but that moreover, this Conference should leave a positive mark, in terms of unity of our profession and in terms of our capacity to improve society. As the song, ‘Ojalá que te vaya bonito’ says in the verse:  cuantas luces dejaste encencidas – how many lights you left illuminated. The Conference should leave many lights shining, not to be easily turned off.

Que nos vaya muy bonito. Thank you.
 

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This is an abridged version of IBA President Almudena Arpón de Mendívil’s speech at the IBA Annual Conference in September 2024 in Mexico City. The filmed speech can be viewed in full here.