Conference programme

Join us at the awards breakfast where the IBA Award for Outstanding Contribution by a Legal Practitioner to Human Rights, the IBA Outstanding Young Lawyer Award, and the IBA Pro Bono Award will be presented.

The Aviation Law Committee (ALC) has once again organised an outing for the IBA Annual Conference. This year, the ALC will take delegates on a behind-the-scenes tour of Copenhagen Airport. The tour will be conducted partly on foot and partly by bus. During the tour, delegates will visit the fire station, garages containing some of the large vehicles, the area close to the aircraft, the fire training area and the cargo area.

Please note that places are limited. Passports should be brought on the day of the visit.

Attendees are advised to arrive at the IBA bus pick-up point at the Conference Centre by 8:15 am on Thursday, 8 October, to ensure there are no delays.

Who owns a borderless, AI-generated brand identity and advertising creative? As AI transforms the creative process, legal frameworks are diverging globally. This session will explore the tension between innovation and authorship, contrasting the U.S. Copyright Office’s strict "human authorship" requirement with more permissive international jurisdictions.

This session will build on the round tables and findings of the working group and provide an opportunity to bring bars and lawyers up to date.

The panel will explore issues that arise in relation to digitalisation and data in the context of investigations and merger reviews: data storage and extra-territorial jurisdiction, legal privilege, use of technologies including AI for document production, use of private digital messaging and devices and the interaction of privacy and competition law in this area.

This session focuses on topical human rights issues prioritised by Bar Associations and Law Societies across different jurisdictions. 

This session explores how law firms can ensure their lawyers continue to grow, adapt, and add value as AI transforms the legal profession. 

This session will offer a strategic forward-looking, regulatory, legal risk, business market perspective.

Our panel of experts will examine the strategic use of court-driven and insolvency-related processes in order to maximise recoveries against both individuals and corporates across the Middle East. The discussion will cover real life scenarios and assessment of the options available to foreign office holders, judgment creditors, and those seeking to assess and trace the asset position of debtors based in the Middle East. The audience can expect to hear an interactive and lively discussion delivering practical insights into emerging approaches, as well as guidance on navigating the legal and procedural challenges unique to each panel member’s jurisdiction.

Thanks to a number of high profile celebrities speaking out about their personal experiences, there is an increased awareness within society and in the workplaces around the potential effects of menopause. Changes in mood and mental health (eg, anxiety, mood swings, low self-esteem), headaches, reduced concentration, brain fog, fatigue and insomnia are some of the symptoms that may affect workplace productivity, attendance and relationships. Previously, these issues were considered to be a personal matter but with the increased awareness of the effects menopause and andropause may have for employees in the workplace and supported by recent case law, it is now obvious that employers are navigating a legal landscape which includes potential claims of sex, age and disability discrimination (including the potential obligation to make reasonable adjustments). Employers failure to address menopause and andropause issues may result in litigation, reputational damage and a toxic workplace culture. But what proactive steps can employers take to mitigate the risks of claims and improve retention, engagement and wellbeing in the workplace?

How do we ensure that progress for women in law is lasting? This panel will highlight intergenerational collaboration – mentoring, sponsorship and allyship – as the foundation for lasting impact. Senior leaders and rising professionals will share lessons on passing the torch and redefining leadership for the future.

Whereas the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) provides a comprehensive set of rules for international sales contracts, there are practical situations where recourse to provisions of national law is needed, such as filling gaps or addressing contractual provisions that refer to national law. This may, and very often does, result in conflicts where legal concepts, such as warranty or liability for damages, under the CISG and national law are not coherent.

We will discuss such situations using real-world examples and aim to develop a toolbox for resolving these conflicts of legal concepts. This session will present a case study and will be highly interactive.

This session will take a broad view of ‘sustainability’ and look at issues such as sustainable careers, sustainable futures and stateless lives (looking at refugees and migrants), the future of humans (in the face of robotics leaving the factory and coming into our daily lives), a more sustainable rule of law and implementing sustainable DEI (coaching, mentoring, flexible working etc).

The session will be in roundtable discussion format with two moderators per topic. We will have three topics, with two Regional Fora assigned for each topic. Each table topic discussion will last for 20-30 minutes, then the participants will change tables. The moderators will present their topics three times to three different groups of participants. The table topics will be as follows:

North American Regional Forum and Latin American Regional Forum
Implementing sustainable DEI (coaching, mentoring, flexible working etc.)

European Regional Forum and Arab Regional Forum
Sustainable careers

Asia Pacific Regional Forum and African Regional Forum
Topic pending

The panel will provide illustrative overviews of the tax issues, pitfalls and traps that arise in the context of international corporate and financial restructurings, whether involving distressed assets or addressing tax risks associated with outdated holding and financing structures.

Europe continues to lead the development of ESG regulatory frameworks worldwide, although 2025-2026 has been marked by a 'simplification' process known as the Omnibus packages, which seek to delay, reduce the scope, or simplify key legislation such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD).

Despite political turbulence and debates about reducing administrative burdens for companies, the European Union maintains an extensive regulatory framework. The United States has experienced a significant rollback in federal sustainability priorities under the current administration, with the abandonment of SEC climate disclosure rules and withdrawal from the Paris Agreement. Other jurisdictions are following their own regulatory trajectories.

The panel will discuss how boards of directors should face ESG related duties, especially in multi-national environments, and how ESG matters may impact M&A transactions in this continuously evolving world.

In capital markets and other transactions, conflicts of interest occur frequently, especially if the issuer has major shareholders or is under fire from a hostile bidder or an activist. The panel discusses how the issuer should and could ensure that minority shareholders (and minority holders of other securities) are sufficiently protected.

The panel will bring together scholars and practitioners in trade, investment, finance and intellectual property to examine how international economic law (IEL) can advance — or inadvertently hinder — poverty eradication. Moving beyond growth averages, speakers will focus on concrete legal levers that shape fiscal space, policy autonomy and distributional outcomes in low- and middle-income countries.

From courtrooms to conflict zones, from boardrooms to government ministries, the legal profession is navigating an era of unprecedented strain. Regulators are tightening their grip. The rule of law and the rules-based order are fracturing. Ethical boundaries are being tested in ever-evolving ways that legal education never anticipated. Young lawyers are entering a profession that looks radically different from the one their mentors built careers in. Artificial Intelligence has brought its own unique opportunities and challenges.

Holding the line brings together the full breadth of the SPPI - across regulation, ethics and accountability, public service, firm management and the next generation of lawyers. The setting will be a world café style set of roundtables each discussing one of the challenges confronting the profession and discussing possible solutions to these challenges. This will be followed by a panel session to discuss the key takeaways from the roundtable discussions and attempt a prognosis for the future of the profession.