The IBA Annual Conference in Paris, France, will begin each day with a keynote address, followed by a question-and-answer session with the speaker.

Christopher Stephens is Senior Vice President and General Counsel of the World Bank Group. He oversees the World Bank’s Legal Vice Presidency (LEG) consisting of approximately 200 professionals located around the world. He is responsible for overall coordination and support on legal aspects of the Operational Activities of the World Bank, including lending, advisory services, country engagement, operational policies, development finance, trust funds and partnerships, and sanctions and anti-corruption. He is also responsible for legal aspects of the corporate finance functions related to financial risk, financial reporting, treasury functions, capital markets issuances, and asset management, and provides legal advice on human resources, procurement, information technology, ethics and external affairs. 

Mr. Stephens is the principal advisor to the Board of Governors, the Executive Directors, the World Bank Group President, and other members of the Senior Management Team on matters of law and policy. 

Prior to his appointment, Mr. Stephens was Vice President and General Counsel of International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, since September 2019. Prior to that, he was General Counsel of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Managing Partner for Asia and a member of the Management Committee of U.S. law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. 

Mr. Stephens has a BA degree from Colgate University and a Juris Doctor degree from New York Law School.