Nigeria: IBA President to Advise Law Students on Building International Legal Career

Saturday 23 May 2020

The President of the International Bar Association (IBA), Horacio Bernardes Neto, is to feature in an episode of The Mentorship Chat – a Law Students’ Association of Nigeria (LAWSAN) webinar series - on Sunday 24 May at 6pm (GMT +1). At the invitation of LAWSAN President, Emmanuel Nwobodo, Mr Bernardes will speak on the topic of Building a Legal Career Across Boundaries; Leveraging Opportunities in International Law Practice. Click here to register.

On his upcoming participation in The Mentorship Chat , Mr Bernardes, Senior Partner at Brazilian law firm Motta Fernandes Advogados, said: ‘It is an honour to be invited by President Nwobodo to participate in this virtual conversation. I am eager to share what I have learnt from 40 years as a practising international lawyer, and from countless exchanges with IBA members, about what it takes for lawyers to succeed in the international arena.'

Mr Nwobodo commented: ‘On behalf of LAWSAN, I am delighted to welcome IBA President Horacio Bernardes Neto to our next webinar, which is open to every law student or young lawyer who aspires to build or expand an international law practice. It is a special honour to host, virtually, an IBA President who has made Africa a priority during his two-year tenure. This is the latest of Mr Bernardes’ many efforts to strengthen the IBA’s ties with the Nigerian legal community and to build the capacity of Nigerian lawyers and law students.’

In its role as the global voice of the legal profession, the IBA is committed to providing support to law students, lawyers at all stages of their careers and vital research into important legal issues. The IBA’s Young Lawyers’ Committee and Legal Policy & Research Unit recently launched a global research project that aims to bridge the gap between younger and more seasoned legal professionals. A key component of this project is the anonymous Young Lawyers Survey, which can be accessed online and is open to all lawyers across the world aged 40 years or younger. In a direct message to the IBA membership, Mr Bernardes actively encouraged young lawyers to contribute to the survey.

Cognizant of the changing landscape of the legal profession for new entrants, Mr Bernardes commented:‘Young lawyers today are facing a very different set of challenges from the ones my contemporaries and I faced as young lawyers some decades ago. The phrase “artificial intelligence” was not in our lexicon, and, even as recently as ten years ago, it was hard to imagine that it would come to play such an important role in the practice of law. Advancements in technology are just one of the many seismic changes to which we must adjust.’ He continued: ‘Young lawyers are inherently more adaptable to fluctuating circumstances. We want to learn from them and, at the same time, discover what unique concerns they have about their future in the legal profession. I urge every eligible lawyer to participate in the survey to help us understand the issues young lawyers are facing so that together we can drive positive change.’

ENDS

Notes to the Editor

  1. To register for The Mentorship Chat 3.0 episode on Building a Legal Career Across Boundaries; Leveraging Opportunities in International Law Practice at 6pm (GMT +1) on Sunday 24 May click here: https://bit.ly/3emgygr
  2. Click here for a short biography of Horacio Bernardes Neto, IBA President and Senior Partner of Brazilian law firm Motta Fernandes Advogados.
  3. The Law Students' Association of Nigeria (LAWSAN) is the national body of all law student associations from various law faculties in Nigerian Universities. The body was formed to represent and promote the interest of undergraduate law students in Nigeria.
  4. IBA President Horacio Bernardes Neto and IBA Executive Director Mark Ellis visited South Africa in June 2019. The visit was organised by the Southern Africa Litigation Centre Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) and Keith Baker, IBA Honorary Life Member. Read more: www.ibanet.org/IBA-President-and-Executive-Director-visit-South-Africa
  5. The International Bar Association (IBA), the global voice of the legal profession, is the foremost organisation for international legal practitioners, bar associations and law societies. Established in 1947, shortly after the creation of the United Nations, it was born out of the conviction that an organisation made up of the world's bar associations could contribute to global stability and peace through the administration of justice.

    In the ensuing 70 years since its creation, the organisation has evolved from an association comprised exclusively of bar associations and law societies to one that incorporates individual international lawyers and entire law firms. The present membership is comprised of more than 80,000 individual international lawyers from most of the world’s leading law firms and some 190 bar associations and law societies spanning more than 170 countries.

    The IBA has considerable expertise in providing assistance to the global legal community, and through its global membership, it influences the development of international law reform and helps to shape the future of the legal profession throughout the world.

    The IBA’s administrative office is in London, United Kingdom. Regional offices are located in: São Paulo, Brazil; Seoul, South Korea; and Washington DC, United States, while the International Bar Association’s International Criminal Court and International Criminal Law Programme (ICC & ICL) is managed from an office in The Hague, the Netherlands.

    The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI), an autonomous and financially independent entity, works to promote, protect and enforce human rights under a just rule of law, and to preserve the independence of the judiciary and the legal profession worldwide.

For further information please contact:

Romana St. Matthew - Daniel
Press Office
International Bar Association
4th Floor, 10 St Bride Street,
London EC4A 4AD

Mobile: +44 (0)7940 731 915
Direct Line: +44 (0)20 7842 0094
Main Office: +44 (0)20 7842 0090
Fax: +44 (0)20 7842 0091

Email: romana.daniel@int-bar.org
Website: www.ibanet.org