Senior Lawyers' Committee

About the Committee

Background

Formed in 2005 primarily to represent the interests of senior lawyers, regardless of their status within the IBA, this Committee is now attracting much interest from younger members of the IBA keen to participate in a forum where they can meet and learn from the experience of senior lawyers, otherwise than in the context of specialist committees of the Legal Practice Division (LPD) and purely social events. As a dynamic group of energetic and like-minded people in terms of both members and participants in its events, the Committee continues to grow and expand its influence.

Aims of the Committee

The Committee actively encourages its members to link and share experiences with similar groups of lawyers and other professionals across all age groups. Its main objectives include: the retention of senior lawyers (whether still practising or already retired) as IBA members; combating age discrimination in all its forms; encouraging senior lawyers to pass on the benefit of their experience and to act as mentors to younger lawyers finding their way both within the IBA and in the profession as a whole; facilitating introductions to fellow professionals and business contacts throughout the world; and, where necessary, acting as a pressure group to advance the interests of senior lawyers both within and outside the IBA.

Committee Activities

The Committee - sometimes on its own but more often in collaboration with other Section on Public and Professional Interest (SPPI) Committees - organises a wide variety of sessions and social activities. Sessions cover topics of interest not only to senior lawyers but also to IBA members at all levels. The orientation is always towards the future and the focus is usually on how the vast experience collectively accumulated by senior lawyers can best be used to enhance the interests of participants and the profession as a whole.

Examples of sessions and events organised in recent years include:

• ‘Discrimination, with particular reference to gender and age, in the legal profession – how this affects lawyers’ (Joint Session with the Discrimination Law Committee);
• ‘How senior lawyers can contribute more to their firms’ (Joint Session with the Law Firm Management Committee);
• ‘Developing the skills of young lawyers: the roles of the mentor and of the law firm’ (Joint Session with the Young Lawyers’ Committee);
• ‘Succession – thinking harder’ (Joint Session with the Law Firm Management Committee);
• ‘Climbing the ladder – how to progress in a law firm’ (Joint Session with the Younger Lawyers’ Committee); and
• various social events organised with the Women Lawyers’ Interest Group.

In addition, the Committee acts as a ‘facilitator’ in assisting senior lawyers to find roles in which they can provide others with the benefit of their significant expertise and experience and work on sustainable development projects via the developing member organisations of the IBA.

Subcommittees and other groups

The Senior Lawyers' Committee also coordinates the activities of the following subcommittees/working groups.

• Senior Lawyers' Committee Advisory Board