21 September 2012
International Bar Association (Iba) Conference Dublin 2012
Dear Colleague
As was reported in the recent edition of the Writ the “Legal Olympics” in the shape of the IBA Annual Conference is coming to Ireland commencing the Sunday the 30th September 2012 and finishing Friday the 5th October 2012. It will be held in the National Convention Hall in Dublin and numbers registered have already exceeded 6500. With delegates coming from over 190 countries and with 73 committees presenting in over 200 sessions on a wide variety of topics and with numerous official & unofficial functions, there are endless opportunities to not only get up to date on the law , practice and future trends in your chosen field but also to endlessly network so as to create new work opportunites & make useful legal connections.
Amongst the keynote speakers is Joseph E Stiglitz ,Nobel Laureate in Economics, Mary Robinson ,former President of Ireland & former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Juan Mendez ,UN Special Rapporteur on Torture
And Bernard Koucher , Former French Minister of Foreign Affairs & former President of Medecins Sans Frontieres.
We have been successful in organizing a number of our own members to speak on a variety of topics including President Imelda McMillan ( How must small firms change in order to survive ) Senior Vice President Brian Speers ( Mediation ) Paul Tweed ( Reputation in the Internet Age) Peter Campbell ( Ethics & Expert Witnesses ) Alastair Rankin ( Orderly Stepping Down ) & Martin McCallion ( Damages for State Illegality )
The Director of the Public Prosecutions Barra McCrory will speak in the showcase session dealing with the rule of law.
For those who only want to attend for a day or two the IBA have just announced that day rates will be available for the Wednesday, Thursday & Friday of Conference week. The daily rate is Stg275 (+vat ) and these tickets can be bought at the registration desk in the Convention Hall itself .Buyers of a daily ticket additionally will be able to buy a ticket for the Friday closing ceremony.
There is a separate stand alone event for young solicitors on the Saturday before the Conference ie 29th September 2012 commencing 10am ,which will cover a wide variety of international legal topics and concludes with an evening reception. Costs for this day event is 50 euro.
Check for further details on the IBA web site www.ibanet.org or for any queries contact the writer through the Law Society.
Yours faithfully
Norville Connolly
Norville Connolly is Past President of the Law Society (2010), is Chair of the Practice Development Working Group and is the Law Society’s nominee to the IBA.