Conference programme

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.

Organised crime poses a direct threat to the rule of law. Illegally obtained money is used to buy influence, corrupt institutions, and infiltrate legitimate markets. This undermines public trust in justice and blurs the line between the underworld and the upper world. Lawyers also encounter these dynamics as gatekeepers, advisors, or defenders. 

Many jurisdictions have strict rules on how lawyers should handle suspicious clients and funds, yet there are also examples where things go wrong or where such rules are under pressure. This raises fundamental questions about independence, professional ethics and responsibility within the rule of law. How can the legal profession strengthen resilience against criminal influence without compromising its core values? And what can we learn from countries operating within different legal or cultural frameworks? The fight against organised crime is not only a legal challenge but also a moral one, striking at the very essence of our profession, worldwide.

Join us for our open committee business meeting where all members and Officers are invited to learn more about the current and upcoming activities and developments of the committee.

All Division members are encouraged to attend this meeting and are invited to put to the Officers any questions they may have, relevant to the work of the Division.

Announcement: Legal Practice Division General Meeting Agenda, Thursday 08 October 2026, Copenhagen, Denmark.

In accordance with the Legal Practice Division (LPD) By-Laws, Article 7.3 this serves as notice of the LPD General Meeting that will take place on Thursday 8 October at the time of the IBA 2026 Annual Conference in Copenhagen. This meeting will elect the Principal Officers and Council members of the Division. All Legal Practice Division members are eligible to attend the meeting.

Click here to download agenda  

We will explore some of the many sources of the pressure to implement AI and boost the visibility of legal ops, including the pressure to do more with less, the explosion of legal technology, data-driven decision making and internal stakeholder expectations. 

AI and digital technologies are dismantling traditional barriers of cross-border legal practice and increasingly lawyers are accessing tools that were once the preserve of large international players to research foreign markets, identify and serve clients across multiple jurisdictions and compete globally.
But these opportunities come with serious risks. Unregulated and unqualified providers are entering the market with little accountability, raising urgent concerns around the disclosure of confidential material and the integrity of legal advice. For qualified practitioners, the risks include deskilling, over-reliance on AI outputs, inadvertent breach of local regulation, loss of the trust of the judiciary and the erosion of the independent judgment that defines good lawyering.
This session explores how digital innovation is transforming the relationship between lawyer and client across borders and the nature, scope, and flow of legal services worldwide.
 

This panel – composed of senior inhouse leaders and practitioners – explores how legal and compliance teams are navigating an increasingly fractured world. Sanctions, trade controls, regulatory divergence, sovereign interventions and technological challenges including AI are no longer peripheral strategic concerns but must be embraced as part of the core compliance agenda. Our panel delivers practical insights on translating geopolitical volatility into effective risk controls, resolving conflicting cross-border obligations, and strengthening governance that protects the business.

Ensuring safety and quality in compounded pharmaceuticals, addressing industry challenges, and discussing measures to combat counterfeit drugs.

Family businesses are confronted with unique governance considerations. For example, these businesses may need to address conflicts at the intersection of family dynamics and fiduciary duties, which can pit personal relationships or loyalties against legal obligations. These conflicts may be further shaped by family estate planning arrangements, including wills, or complicated by the existence of outside investors. Family businesses also need to approach exits in a way that is sensitive to family legacy, succession planning and other factors. This panel will compare legal doctrines and toolkits, such as family constitutions, and translate them into real-world playbooks for resolving disputes and averting deadlock. The panel will also examine structures that can promote smooth exits and successions, including calibrated buy-sell mechanics, put/call options and staged liquidity.

As global energy markets face increasing disruption, the oil & gas and maritime sectors are navigating a shared landscape of geopolitical risk, price volatility, and regulatory uncertainty. From strained supply chains and rising freight costs to the impact of sanctions and chokepoint disruptions, energy security has become a critical concern for both industries.

At the same time, the push toward net-zero is reshaping fuel supply, investment decisions, and operational models, often creating tension between long-term sustainability goals and the immediate need for reliable and affordable energy.

This session will examine the common legal and commercial challenges facing both sectors, including supply instability, fluctuating energy prices, evolving bunkering risks, and fragmented regulatory frameworks. It will also explore how closer alignment, through coordinated contracting, infrastructure planning, and risk-sharing mechanisms can enhance resilience and support a more stable energy environment.

Bringing together perspectives from across the energy and maritime value chain, the discussion will focus on practical solutions to ensure that energy security, commercial viability, and decarbonisation can progress hand in hand in an increasingly uncertain global environment.

Many hospitality parties operate in multiple jurisdictions where they have established relationships with their legal counsel. When venturing into new jurisdictions for the first time, this established legal support is absent. This panel, featuring several general counsels from the hospitality, leisure, and gaming sectors, will discuss how they search for and select new legal counsel in these jurisdictions to meet their specific needs.

The discussion will also explore how AI affects counsel selection: does it empower general counsel with greater flexibility in hiring decisions by serving as an independent check on counsel?

Digital wallets are changing not only how we pay, but how identity, authentication and trust are built into financial transactions. As payment wallets increasingly incorporate verified identity, biometric authentication and digital credentials — and as Europe implements the EUDI Wallet under eIDAS 2.0 — the boundaries between payments regulation, privacy, cybersecurity and digital identity are becoming increasingly difficult to separate.

This panel will examine those intersections from the perspective of payments and financial services. How do existing payment and financial regulatory frameworks interact with GDPR, DORA, NIS2 and eIDAS 2.0? What changes when banks and fintechs rely on wallet-based identity or biometric authentication to onboard customers, authenticate users or authorise transactions? And, most importantly, who bears responsibility when the technology, identity proof, data or payment fails?

This session will explore dealing with the challenges of an (un)insured world.

This panel will examine recent developments in the sphere of investment arbitration and treaty practice.

This session will consider strategies to contend with these issues in conflict-affected countries and countries highly penetrated by organised crime.    

Public procurement and military contracting often become complex 'battlefields' where legal, commercial and institutional interests collide. This panel examines how mediation and ADR tools can help prevent and resolve disputes in public and defence procurement, from tendering to contract performance. Focusing on the role of legal departments in public bodies and armed forces, speakers will discuss how mediation enhances transparency, efficiency and continuity in supplier relations. Real-world cases will show how structured dialogue and facilitated negotiation can transform potential conflicts into opportunities for collaboration, innovation and sound governance in sensitive procurement environments.

Over the past five years, ESG has shifted from theory to a core strategic and reputational concern for law firms, moving beyond client advice to impact firm operations, culture, and values. Today, firms are judged by a wider group of stakeholders, including clients, talent, regulators, and society. This session will focus on how firms are embedding ESG – covering climate, human rights, DEI, and ethical governance – into strategy and decision-making. With rising scrutiny, political pushback, and evolving expectations, law firms face new challenges and opportunities as they navigate what responsible business really means. Bringing together diverse perspectives, the session will ask: is ESG in law firms maturing or fragmenting? And how can firms show genuine leadership and impact in a fast-changing landscape?

This session will compare the US ESTA, the EU’s ETIAS, and the UK ETA systems – examining their scope, implementation challenges, and interoperability. It will explore legal, privacy, and human rights concerns associated with data collection, risk scoring, and algorithmic decision-making in traveller screening. Finally, it will discuss the impact on mobility, visa-free travel, and global business travellers of the implementation of these programmes in the EU, UK, US and several other countries.

New technologies and highly mobile workforces are reshaping the way business is conducted worldwide, both in terms of how goods and services are delivered to consumers and how entities within a multinational group interact and share resources. This panel will discuss some of the emerging income tax, transfer pricing, and withholding tax issues that arise as a result.

Join us for our open committee business meeting where all members and Officers are invited to learn more about the current and upcoming activities and developments of the Committee.