The 2019 World Link for Law (30th Anniversary) conference was held from Wednesday 13th to Saturday 16th March in Dubai. The main conference days were on Thursday 14th and Friday 15th March.

At the General Assembly on Friday, Philippe Bedard, President, made a short presentation about the history, growth and development and of the Association and afterwards members were presented with Anniversary crystal glass ‘awards’ to commemorate the anniversary.

The conference was held at the Sofitel Jumeirah Beach Hotel located in the Marina area of the city, near Dubai Media City and with views out to the Atlantis Hotel on Palm Island.  Dubai is a fast growing, cosmopolitan, international business centre and meeting place for entrepreneurs worldwide in a city with dynamic architecture and leisure activities. Our local member firm, Al Rowaad Advocates & Legal Consultants, provided valuable assistance before and during the conference.

The conference included many informative presentations and interactive discussions, as well as social events, with numerous opportunities to meet World Link for Law colleagues.

Additionally, we had meetings of the Special Interest Groups for Arbitration and Tax on Thursday 14th March. Before the conference, on Wednesday afternoon, 13th March, there was a Mergers & Acquisitions Group meeting after the Board meeting. The Board meeting included a representative from our ‘Young Lawyers Group’.

On Wednesday 13th March, before the first day of the conference, in the evening, there was a pre-conference ‘welcome’ group dinner in the Marina area, a short walk from the hotel at Abd El Wahab (Lebanese) restaurant at Pier 7 in Dubai Marina.

After the first conference day on Thursday 14th March there was a group dinner on an outside terrace at the Sofitel preceded by a drinks’ reception.

On Friday March 15th in the afternoon, there was a Dhow cruise around the Dubai Creek, followed by a group dinner at Ewaan restaurant beneath the Burj Khalifa.

On Saturday March 16, there were two excursion options either a visit to “At the Top” at Burj Khalifa (tallest building in the world) and the Aquarium at Dubai Mall or Deira old town and Souks guided tour with a river taxi to the Old Fort.

The conference business programme

On the first conference day, Thursday, the first presentation was by Ahmed Saeed, Head of Corporate Structuring with Al Rowaad Advocates & Legal Consultants in Dubai, who presented about “Doing business in the Middle East” followed by a presentation on “How to get your client’s business registered in the United Arab Emirates”. This session covered the three main options to incorporate companies in the United Arab Emirates (Mainland; Free Zone and Offshore).

Nabil A. Issa, Partner, King & Spalding LLP, Dubai followed on the subject of “Islamic Finance; Shari’ah Law issues; structure of investments/loan agreements” linking in with Yann Mrazek, Managing Partner of M/HQ, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, UAE who gave us a useful insight into “Advising clients on structuring of investments and protecting assets in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) through innovative structures”. They were educational and informative sessions.

Nick Cronjaeger is Head of Legal Software Solutions, MENA, SSA, Russia & India for Thomson Reuters. His presentation focussed on what’s really happening with legal technology in law firms, in-house departments and governments across the world. He provided a brief history of the last 10 years of legal technology, from humble beginnings using systems from Microsoft Access up to Blockchain Ledgers and AI. These subjects are important for our members.

After lunch, held on an outside terrace, James Badcock, Partner, and Valentina Falicheva, both of Collyer Bristow LLP, London, UK and Peter Kirpensteijn, Partner, of Kiveld International Lawyers, Den Haag, The Netherlands, talked about the fairly recently introduced GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations). In particular, how does this legislation impact on lawyers and their clients around the world?; the latest developments in the mandatory exchange of information by professionals, beneficial ownership registers and the crackdown on tax avoidance; and how clients are using the law to protect their privacy.

The conference then separated into two sessions. The International Arbitration session was led by Cristiana Stoica of Romania, introducing guest speaker Sally Kotb, Counsel in the UAE Dispute Resolution and International Arbitration practice of Baker McKenzie Habib Al Mulla, Dubai. She is also a member of the DIAC (Dubai International Arbitration Centre) and therefore she spoke, as invited, about the new UAE Arbitration Law on the procedural aspects of DIAC arbitrations. In a separate meeting the Tax Group followed up on the earlier presentation about structuring investments.

On Friday morning (the second day) after the Annual General Assembly of World Link for Law, there was a presentation by World Link for Law President, Philippe Bedard to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the Association and afterwards he invited delegates to receive their commemorative crystal glass ‘awards’. There was also a useful open forum session enabling members to air their views and opinions about the Association.

Bernard Colas, CMKZ, LLP (Colas Moreira Kazandjian Zikovsky, LLP), Montréal, Québec, Canada made a presentation about the WTO and International Trade Agreements, particularly in view of Canada’s recent EU trade agreement.

Then, before lunch there was a World Link Young Lawyers Group presentation about generational issues, training and qualification comparisons. There were 10 ‘Young Lawyers’ at the conference and 3 of them (Alberto Escubós, Arasa & de Miquel, Spain; Melisande Felton, KBRC & Associés, France; Silvia Renninger, Bratschi AG, Switzerland) looked into a number of stereotypes about millennials and ‘baby boomers’ to determine whether these stereotypes are perceived differently by young and senior lawyers. Prior to the conference, all our wider ‘Young lawyers’ were invited to complete an on-line survey. During the conference, senior lawyers were invited (challenged!) to participate by answering the same survey questions in real time using their mobile devices. The presenters used ‘real time’ on-line research evaluation tools to analyse the results, instantly. Some answers were predictable; others were more surprising. It was a dynamic and very interactive session and very well received.