Bar Issues Commission

For the first time I may address you as chair of BIC and I do this with great pleasure. First of all, my sincere thanks go to Alejandro Ogarrio who has finished a most successful turn as chair of BIC during which he has shown the most professional, passionate and diligent leadership. We are all very grateful for his accomplishments which have further boasted BIC’s activities and its role within the IBA.

The programme for the next Bar Leaders’ Conference in Paris from 20 to 21 May 2009 at the Maison du Barreau will be very lively with a range of topics from what role lawyers may have played in creating the current financial crisis to the new regulations affecting the French bars.   At  the Annual IBA Conference in Madrid we will be trying a new round table formate for our sessions which will all take place on one day and which will be devoted to one general topic – The Independence of the Legal Profession.

In addition to our conference activities, projects relating to training and the international code of ethics are moving forward.   It is my intention to have this process cover eventually all such principles with the first goal of having the IBA and more particularly, the BIC become the centre of knowledge with a global reach in this respect. 

The success of BIC depends on the interest BIC members take in its work. My fellow officers, the two Vice-Chairs Jim Klotz and Horacio Bernardes Neto, the officers Margery Nicoll and Olufunke Adekoya and myself, will do our level best to make BIC’s work attractive to you. Please support us by active participation and voicing your suggestions for issues we ought to address.