Conference programme

This session will discuss several options potentially available to private companies seeking funding in a tough venture market.

Discussions will include;

• Debt financing;
• Angel investors; 
• Crowdfunding; 
• Insider bridge rounds; 
• Sale of assets;
• The possible impact of such options on future equity rounds;
• Alternative sources of private capital including private equity; 
• And family office funding for more established closely held companies.  

At the proposal of the Diversity and Inclusion Council, at the start of 2024 the IBA launched an online Coassemble diversity and inclusion training programme and encouraged all Officers to use it as a means of gaining a practical understanding of how unconscious bias compromises the way we interact with others. The Diversity and Inclusion Council also supported and assisted the IBA European Region Forum to launch a Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Toolkit to assist law firms in similar endeavours. 

Underlying the launch of these tools was the desire to enhance diversity and inclusion by providing the skills to identify how unconscious bias affect our day-to-day business and inter-personal interactions and how to neutralise its constrain.

This session will share data on how gender imbalances in the IBA have improved (or not) and further discuss how our cultural background due principally to our upbringing conditions the way in which we interact with others in a manner that compromises diversity and inclusion without realising not only in areas of gender, but also in areas such as ethnic origins, race, SOGI and neurodiversity.

Sternford Moyo passed away unexpectedly on 5 July 2024. Sternford’s leadership, integrity, and courage is profoundly missed at the IBA. Over the years, Sternford held various important roles in our Association – including Co-Chair of the IBA’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) and more recently our first IBA President from Africa (2021 to 2023). As President, Sternford showed an unwavering support for diversity and inclusion within the Association. Just a few weeks prior to his sad passing, Sternford graciously agreed to join this panel to speak regarding diversity and inclusion from the perspective of race. The Diversity and Inclusion Council would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and honour Sternford's incredible commitment to the protection of those most vulnerable through adherence to the rule of law and promotion of human rights and human dignity for all.

A period of intense debate (at least in Europe) on competition law and sustainability has yielded helpful agency guidance. There is now a transition to concrete action – in terms of actual competitor collaboration (being waved through by agencies), but also high-profile enforcement against agreements to restrict technical development at the expense of the environment. Agencies are also debating whether and how to address sustainability-related factors in their merger control analysis. Our panel will discuss the journey so far and the road ahead: what are the key areas of convergence and divergence? What teachings can be drawn from the cases that have come to light so far involving cooperation?

The idea of space mining is not new. However, until recently, technological and financial constraints have prevented it from becoming a reality. This might be about to change. With the continuing decrease of launching costs and national and international efforts to private legal certainty for mining operations in space, space mining might soon attract the necessary investments to take off. Indeed, the first contracts have already been signed for the extraction and sale of lunar resources. The panel will address the advantages and challenges of mining in space, as well as the applicable legal framework.
 

This session will explore key issues in wellbeing for law students and early practitioners, as well as how law schools and trainers can ensure they are managed appropriately. The issues will include, inter alia: incivility; the virtual work/study environment; diversity and inclusion; instilling work ethic; loyalty and commitment; and internships.

The session is focused on the importance of consulting employment law specialists in different jurisdictions to address some of the most common employment law issues that arise in cross-border restructurings, including reductions in force, changing employee terms and conditions, and transfer of employment.

This session will provide an overview of some of the key legal and regulatory issues in Mexico and Latin America, including insurtech and regulatory sandboxes, open insurance, parametric insurance, taxation, health insurance in the aftermath of Covid-19, alternative distribution channels and the role of managing general agents (MGAs). Lawyers in private practice and industry players will provide insight on these topics with a regional perspective.

This flagship session organised by the IBA Arbitration Committee at each IBA Annual Conference focuses on the most recent and controversial themes in international arbitration.  From the proliferation of anti- and anti-anti- arbitration injunctions, or requests for securities, to managing circumstances disrupting the proceedings, and facing new challenges based on public policy, as well as other issues participants have come across in their recent practice, join us for a robust discussion of the current hop topics in international arbitration.

The panel will consider how energy transition affects collateral in an array of secured transactions.

Status of reporting regimes around the globe and the tension with solicitor client privilege, privacy, confidentiality and access to counsel

Many individuals throughout the world are finding it increasingly difficult to access a lawyer, and whilst many find the costs prohibitive there are countries in which so called 'legal deserts' are developing. Many young lawyers are drawn to the multi national firms in the larger towns and cities and there is an increasing phenomenon of small towns losing their lawyers to the big cities or older members of the profession who have been working in so called 'general practice' in these small towns retiring and no one is coming up behind them to replace them. Accordingly many people now face the prospect of having to travel hundreds of miles to be able to access a lawyer.

It is surely incumbent on the legal regulator to ensure that all citizens have access to a lawyer and therefore is there a role for regulators to address the development of 'legal deserts' and thus improve people's access to justice. 
 

Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation (SLAPP) has sought to silence marginalised groups through the use of the legal system to restrict the voice of persons who are vulnerable. The session will explore how the rule of law can be supported in the legal profession by responding to SLAPPs through ethical responsibility and law reform.

With assets that are acquired in, or which find their way to, jurisdictions all across the globe, multi-jurisdictional asset recovery cases present unique legal and practical coordination challenges. From preservation of an asset to recovery, injunctive relief and precautionary measures are key to many successful cross-border asset recovery cases. This session will highlight issues related to the selection of the venue where injunctive or precautionary measures are first sought, considerations for injunctions or precautionary measure orders that will make them “travel well” to other jurisdictions, and differing standards for the recognition of an existing injunction or precautionary measure in secondary jurisdictions of interest with a focus on differences between civil and common law jurisdictions.

In recent years, the legal market has experienced important changes, where the business model, the career and the clients of the firms have impacted the strategy of firms. The pandemic accelerated many changes that firms had seen coming. This panel will review and discuss these latest changes, already implemented in Latin America and other jurisdictions, which define the law firm of today, together with the challenges that the legal profession will face in the near future.

An open meeting of the Poverty and Social Development Committee will be held to discuss matters of interest and future activities with its members and interested participants.