The 2023 World Link for conference was held between Thursday 11^th May and Saturday 13^th May 2023 in London, United Kingdom. The main conference/business agenda days were on Friday 12^th and Saturday 13^st May, up to lunchtime within Annual General Assembly of World Link for Law, also held on Saturday morning.

London is of course a major international hub; a historic and now cosmopolitan international city and finance centre, whilst also offering a large variety of cultural interests.

The conference was attended by 55 delegates from around the world with some guests, in total 75, excluding external guest speakers. It was held at the Radisson Blu Edwardian Bloomsbury Street Hotel, located near the British Museum and the Covent Garden area on the west side of the city centre.

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, there were Special Interest Group meetings for International Arbitration; International Tax Law; Betting & Gaming Law and a Young Lawyers group meeting.

On Thursday evening 11^th May before the first day of the conference, there was a pre-conference ‘welcome’ group dinner and pre-dinner drinks reception in the Bloomsbury Street kitchen restaurant of the Radisson Blu, Bloomsbury.

During the conference time on Friday 12^th May, there was a spouse/guest excursion around the Mayfair district of London.

After the first conference day on Friday 12^th May, there was a group dinner for everyone at the historic Grays Inn near Chancery Lane, preceded by a drinks’ reception where a group photo was taken. On Saturday afternoon (13^th May), after the last conference lunch, we had an open top city bus tour. On Saturday evening (13^th May), we arranged a fun based social event/dinner and drinks event including a game of Crazy Golf at a club near Oxford Circus.

The conference business programme

The main business programme included these topics:

Law Firm Trends 2023 and beyond by Tony Williams, Jomati Consultants, London. Tony addressed a number of the key trends impacting the legal sector in 2023 including the challenges of attracting and retaining talent and responding to the issues and opportunities presented by flexible working as well as client’s changing expectations.

Using LinkedIn as a lawyer to obtain more work by Rachel Tombs, Orion Legal Marketing, UK. Rachel’s presentation included how to optimise your profile so that you come top of search results; find key contacts; build a network; engage with your target market; showcase your expertise and knowledge; and keep front of mind by writing insightful and shareable content.

The Digitisation of UK Legal Services – by Thomas Miles of member firm, 3CS, London, UK

ESG and the Private Investor (and ‘greenwashing”) by Inno van den Berg Evelyn Partners, London, UK and Robin Henry of member firm, Collyer Bristow, London, UKCyber Security – risk and vulnerability for law firms by Vijay Rathour of Grant Thornton. Law firms are at a huge risk of being cyber attacked because of the important, confidential information they hold about clients and clients’ activities and therefore the risk of being held to ransom. Vijay’s presentation covered methods of hacking; the implications for hacked law firms; and the insurance perspective.

Group discussion/working groups –the delegates divided into groups to work on a hypothetical negotiation case study led by member firm partners - Charles Valente of MPS Law, Chicago, USA, & Dean Christopherson of Dawe & Christopherson LLP, San Francisco, USA.