Conference programme

Everything you want to know about networking at the IBA Annual Conference; connecting to the right people; increasing your referrals; getting a return on relationships and really enjoying it (even if you are NOT a newcomer)! This is a session you do not want to miss!

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Keynote address
Prince Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein
Former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
President of the International Peace Institute

Prince Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein served as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2014 to 2018. A distinguished diplomat and international statesman, in 2019 he was elected to The Elders, an independent group of global leaders founded by Nelson Mandela.

Prince Zeid has represented Jordan on the world stage as its ambassador to the UN in New York on two occasions and as its ambassador to the United States. In January 2014, he served as president of the UN Security Council.

Earlier, in 2002, he became the first president of the governing body of the International Criminal Court (ICC), serving until 2005. He also served, from 1994 to 1996, as a UN civilian peacekeeper with UNPROFOR – the UN Protection Force.

Prince Zeid received his B.A from John Hopkins University. He was then a research student at Christ’s College, Cambridge, where he gained a PhD. In 2016, he was made an Honorary Fellow of Christ’s College, Cambridge.

He is currently President of the International Peace Institute and Perry World House Professor of the Practice of Law and Human Rights at the University of Pennsylvania.

Special guest speaker
Lars Løkke Rasmussen
Minister for Foreign Affairs

Lars Løkke Rasmussen is Denmark’s Minister for Foreign Affairs. He has served as a member of the Danish Parliament, the Folketing, for more than three decades. He was first elected to Parliament in 1994 for the Liberal Party (Venstre), serving the party until the end of 2020. Following a period as an independent member, he joined The Moderates in 2022 and continues to represent the party in the Folketing.

Lars Løkke Rasmussen has twice served as Prime Minister of Denmark, first from 2009 to 2011 and again from 2015 to 2019. His previous ministerial appointments include Minister for the Interior and Health from 2001 to 2007 and Minister for Finance from 2007 to 2009. He was Chairman of the Liberal Party from 2009 to 2019, having previously served as its Vice-Chairman. He became Minister for Foreign Affairs in December 2022 and was reappointed to the role in June 2026.

A graduate of the University of Copenhagen, Lars Løkke Rasmussen received his Master of Laws degree in 1992. He is also the author of several books, including Ud af det blå (Out of the Blue), published in 2021, Om de fleste og det meste (On (Nearly) Everyone and Everything), published in 2020, and Hvis jeg bli’r gammel (If I Get Old), published in 1997.

Ukraine at the Forefront of Defense Innovation: Investment, Partnership and Opportunity

The Ukrainian Bar Association is pleased to announce the next edition of its traditional Open Ukraine Breakfast, held annually during the IBA Annual Conference.

Each year, Open Ukraine brings together legal professionals, business leaders, investors, government representatives and international partners to discuss the issues shaping Ukraine's future and the role of the legal community in addressing them.

Denmark has been at the forefront of a new model of defence-industrial cooperation with Ukraine. In 2025, it became the first country to enable a Ukrainian defence company to establish production abroad. Since 2024, the Danish Model has helped channel approximately $3 billion into Ukraine’s defence industry, with contributions from Denmark and other international partners. The funding has supported the production of more than 200,000 drones, thousands of electronic warfare systems, Ukrainian missiles and other defence equipment.

This Danish-Ukrainian partnership offers a compelling case study in how law, capital and industry can work together to accelerate defence innovation. It also reveals a new landscape of opportunities and challenges for international investors, businesses and legal advisers.

PROGRAMME

08:00–08:10

Welcome remarks
Mykola Stetsenko, President, Ukrainian Bar Association; Managing Partner, AVELLUM

08:10–09:10

Defence innovation as a business opportunity

Moderator:

Nazar Chernyavsky, Partner, Sayenko Kharenko; Member, IBA Technology Law Committee Advisory Board

Speakers:

· Dirk Madsen, Senior Consultant, EIFO (Denmark)

· Serhii Verlanov, Board Member, Skyhawk (Ukraine)

· Viacheslav Shvaydak, Founder, CEO, Dropla Tech (Ukraine)

· Joachim Finkielman, Director, DI Danish Defence and Security Industries (Denmark)

· David Wagner Reinhard, EVP/CPO, MITS Industries A/S (Denmark)

09:10–09:25

Q&A

09:25–09:30

Closing remarks
Ivan Horodyskyy, Vice President, Ukrainian Bar Association; Managing Partner, Dexis Partners

More information about the Ukrainian Bar Association: About the Ukrainian Bar Association

The developers of AI are building a technology that will have profound implications for society, not just in the here and now, but for generations to come. Alongside the great promise of the technology, we are seeing growing fears about its perils, and increasing calls to "pace the frontier". What does this mean, and how do institutions need to adapt to meet the moment? 

For decades, the law could treat computers as instruments: sophisticated typewriters, ledgers or calculators. Even as machine learning advanced, software remained a tool directed by human hands. That assumption breaks down when systems begin to act, setting sub-goals, entering commitments, executing transactions, and negotiating with other autonomous agents across borders and jurisdictions. It is one of the reasons the calls for caution have grown louder. 

This Presidential Keynote Address features Dr Nicklas Lundblad, co-founder of the Pharos Futures Research Group and former Head of Global Policy and Public Affairs at Google DeepMind. Drawing on two decades at the frontier of AI development and policy, and on his work in strategic foresight, he examines the friction between agentic AI and fundamental legal doctrine. What does "agency" mean when intent is statistical? Where do responsibility, liability, and duty of care fall when no person directed the specific outcome, and no single engineer can fully reconstruct it? 

Looking past compliance checklists, Lundblad turns to the harder question of how legal categories, institutions, and reasoning must adapt when agency is no longer uniquely human. 

The session marks a milestone for the IBA's newly launched Artificial Intelligence Institute, created to bring the legal profession's expertise to bear on global AI governance and policy. IBA President Claudio Visco will open the session, and the Institute's founding Director, Dr Farzana Dudhwala, will respond to the keynote and lead the discussion that follows. This session is also open to paid guests, who are warmly invited to attend.