Conference programme

In today’s rapidly changing world, the ability to lead with clarity and confidence is more crucial than ever. This panel explores how women (and men) can cultivate a powerful leadership presence that drives results and fosters resilience. Panelists will share insights on their journey to strengthening their leadership footprint, navigating challenges, connecting authentically with teams, and inspiring meaningful change all while maintaining their personal and professional integrity.

Join us for our annual Taxes Committee national reporters breakfast.

What turns a strong legal expert into a trusted business partner – and ultimately, a rainmaker?

This interactive breakfast session explores the journey from technical excellence to strategic leadership. Drawing on the experiences of leading practitioners across different fields, the discussion will focus on the mindset shifts, skills and habits required to build client trust, generate opportunities and create lasting impact.

From personal branding and credibility to commercial thinking and relationship-building, the session offers practical insights and candid reflections on what it truly takes to move beyond legal expertise and step into a broader leadership role.

Join us for an energising conversation to start the day with fresh perspective and actionable takeaways.

The annual keynote speech of the Taxes Committee which will lead immediately into our session titled Pillar two: from deal to docs.

This panel will include leading rainmakers from around the globe to showcase a truly international perspective on this important topic. In support of the session, a best practice playbook on the topic would be created, LinkedIn posts would be shared before and after the program, and a survey would be conducted to gather insights from practitioners around the world. 

In this session we will explore how to find and control assets in complex family disputes around the world.

This session will look at a number of different issues in global communications infrastructure regulation, such as the regulation of cross-border data corridors and the EU’s new Digital Networks Act and asks the question of how best to implement harmonised global communications infrastructure regulation that takes data governance into account including for example by imposing cyber security standards and recognising lawful interception as well as data sovereignty.

The panel will explore practical issues arising in vertical agreements including resale price maintenance (RPM) and dual pricing, territorial constraints, most favoured nation clauses, exclusivity and non-competes and intermediation platform agreements.

The movement of large numbers of people across borders continues to generate profound legal and political challenges. This panel will explore the criminal law and rule of law issues that arise from mass migration — including the criminalisation of irregular entry, human smuggling, trafficking and the treatment of asylum seekers — and the political responses these movements provoke. The subject also has clear multi-jurisdictional resonance, as migration remains a highly charged political issue in jurisdictions such as the UK, US, Germany, Italy and Australia.

This panel aims to map how regulatory initiatives and sector-specific reforms are reshaping arbitrability, procedure, and forum choice across key jurisdictions. We will provide a candid assessment of enforcement risks, including constitutional shifts, public policy defences, set-aside trends, interim relief, and security for costs, particularly in cases involving states and state-owned enterprises.

The session will also unpack investor-state friction in resources and strategic sectors, driven by the energy transition, ESG duties, tax and licensing changes, and administrative measures. Time permitting, the discussion will include practical takeaways on clause drafting for M&A and projects, seat and institution selection, multi-tiered mechanisms, and coordination with parallel court proceedings. It will also address emergency measures, court–tribunal interaction, and the availability and impact of third-party funding on strategy and settlement.

Attendees will gain a practical compass for risk allocation, timelines, and realistic outcomes in both commercial and treaty cases across key Latin American jurisdictions.

The session will cover both the risks of AI in perpetuating bias and the opportunities for AI to support diversity and inclusion initiatives globally. Risks include algorithmic bias, discrimination, lack of transparency in AI models, unequal access to technology, data privacy concerns, and the risk of homogeneous teams overlooking diversity in AI ethics frameworks. In addition, automation raises questions about job displacement and the fair distribution of economic benefits. Conversely, AI offers opportunities for bias detection and mitigation, improved accessibility through tools such as real-time translation and speech-to-text, and personalised learning experiences that can support students from diverse backgrounds. Fostering diversity within AI development teams can produce more inclusive systems.

The legal profession stands at a pivotal crossroads. Millions of individuals worldwide navigate the complexities of the legal system without adequate representation, facing outcomes that are often determined not by the merits of their cases but by their inability to access qualified legal counsel. At the same time, artificial intelligence is reshaping nearly every sector of professional practice, and the legal profession is no exception.

This continuing legal education programme brings together an interdisciplinary panel of legal aid practitioners, technology innovators, access-to-justice advocates, and legal ethics experts to examine how AI tools are being deployed and how they should be deployed to assist in closing the widening justice gap. The programme will provide attorneys with a practical, critically informed understanding of AI-assisted legal tools, their demonstrated benefits for pro se litigants and under-resourced legal service organisations, and the professional responsibility framework that must govern their use.

The programme is designed to be solutions-oriented. It acknowledges that AI presents genuine opportunities to extend legal services to communities historically left behind by the justice system, while also confronting the bias, risks, limitations, and ethical obligations that responsible adoption demands.

In an era of rapid digital transformation, financial institutions face increasing pressure to align their Information and Communication Technology (ICT) governance with regulatory demands, cybersecurity imperatives and innovation goals. This panel will explore how banks and other financial service providers can structure effective ICT governance frameworks to ensure resilience, compliance and strategic agility especially in the context of cross-border financial services, where legal and operational complexities multiply.

This session will assess the current status of the 2026 USMCA review process, which began on 17 September 2025 with the publication by USTR and the Mexican Ministry of Economy of the call for the 60-day “public comment” phase of the review. The nations involved must choose whether to renew the USMCA for 16 more years, with another joint review after six years; to withdraw from the USMCA, following a minimum of six months’ notice to the other members; or to continue the USMCA without renewing it, in which case the agreement remains in force for 10 more years and expires in 2036. The session will provide an update on the current situation, including the status of negotiations and agreements.

This panel will delve into the latest trends and best practices for governing AI agents. The discussion will include a live demo and will be followed by discussions covering in particular:

•    strategies for maintaining robust oversight and ensuring compliance in an era where AI development, deployment and usage are democratised and widely accessible;
•    refining risk-based approaches to effectively govern AI systems and use cases that could pose significant risks; and
•    promoting responsible, meaningful and empowered human oversight of AI, despite the fundamental goal of agentic AI to operate independently from human intervention.

A selection of topics of universal interest to maritime lawyers.