IBA Criminal Law Section at the 2024 IBA Annual Conference in Mexico City

Monday 13 January 2025

Diana Czugler

Peters & Peters, London

dczugler@petersandpeters.com

The IBA’s Criminal Law Section (made up of the Criminal Law, Business Crime, Anti-Corruption and Asset Recovery Committees) has closed 2024 with another successful Conference; this time in Mexico City, where around 5,000 delegates gathered to exchange ideas, discuss the latest hot topics in the legal world and – of course – experience Mexican food, music and culture (including a memorable trip to a Lucha Libre wrestling competition).

Presentations, panels and showcases

The Conference gave us the opportunity to share the stage with our colleagues from other sectors of the legal industry – including banking, finance, capital markets and litigation – to share insights and trade opinions on a range of topical issues including crypto currency regulation, dealing with corporate crises and public enquiries and the impact of sanctions law, before a large live audience.

Business crime crisis situations in a corporate environment

The first criminal law panel of the conference examined different considerations and best practice in crisis situations through a practical case scenario through the lens of various actors and their legal advisors, including company executives, compliance officers and general counsel. The session was chaired by Cristian Francos (Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss, Washington, DC; Co-Chair, Business Crime Committee) and Laura Perkins (Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft, Washington, Washington; Corporate Counsel Forum Liaison Officer, Business Crime Committee).

Our speakers were Maria Archimbal (YPF SA, Buenos Aires; Corporate Counsel Forum Liaison Officer, Compliance Subcommittee, Anti-Corruption Committee), Saverio Lembo (Baer & Karrer, Geneva; Committee Liaison Officer, Criminal Law Committee), Manavendra Mishra (Khaitan & Co, Mumbai, Maharashtra; Young Lawyers' Committee Liaison Officer, Business Crime Committee) and Teresa Villareal Torres (Xignux, Mexico City).

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Digital assets and the future of financial services

This year’s showcase by the IBA Legal Practice Division (LPD) considered how the rise of digital currencies has impacted on the regulatory landscape and transformed financial services. Mauro Wolfe (Duane Morris, New York; Member, Criminal Law Committee Advisory Board) spoke on regulatory responses and potentially available private law remedies.

Default of banks and crypto currency exchange failures

Digital assets were also on the menu for the Conference’s second criminal law panel, that looked at the causes and consequences of recent banks and crypto-currency exchanges failures through case studies. The session was chaired by Filippo Ferri (Cagnola & Associati Studio Legale, Milan; Senior Vice Chair, Business Crime Committee) and Jason Linder (Mayer Brown, Los Angeles, California; Secretary, Business Crime Committee). Our panel consisted of Dirk Bliesener (Hengeler Mueller, Frankfurt; Senior Vice Chair, Banking & Financial Law Committee), Karla Lini Maeji (TozziniFreire Advogados, São Paulo; Secretary, Non-trial Resolutions of Bribery Cases Subcommittee, Anti-Corruption Committee) and Liliana Marcos Iza (PROSA, Mexico City).

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Workplace and employment offences

This panel discussed the most common and not so common offences in the workplace and employment in general, touching upon the criminal considerations that may arise out of them. The discussion was chaired by Janusz Tomczak (Raczkowski, Warsaw; Co-Chair, Criminal Law Committee) and Adriana De Buerba (PEREZ-LLORCA, Madrid; Co-Chair, Criminal Law Committee). The panellists were Maria Fernanda Pariente Coutiño (Creel Garcia-Cuellar Aiza y Enriquez, Mexico City), Andreas Pfister (Wessing & Partner Rechtsanwaelte mbB, Düsseldorf), Sajai Singh (JSA, Bengaluru, Karnataka; Council Member, IBA LPD) and Ann Sultan (Miller & Chevalier Chartered, Washington, DC; Co-Chair, Compliance Subcommittee, Anti-Corruption Committee).