With a huge grief we have to inform you that Andrzej Kaliński, Member of the AEA-EAL Board of Directors died suddenly. Andrzej Kaliński was a lawyer, Dean of the Bialystok Bar Association of Attorneys at Law, former diplomat, but above all a wonderful colleague and friend. We could always count on his initiative, cleverness and good-heartedness. We have been working together on organizing our Annual Meeting in Białystok in June of this year. He conducted talks with vigor and humor – as always. No one could expect this tragedy.
Presidents and High Representatives of almost all European Bars as well as international organizations of lawyers gathered in Vienna on February 20 – 22, 2020 to discuss important issues touching civil society and legal profession. The AEA-EAL was represented by its President Maria Ślązak.
„Democracy and Rule of Law – Keeping up the Pressure” was the main topic of Vienna’s deliberations. Due to its significance for the people and for lawyers, organizators invited special guests and speakers, among others, Brigitte Bierlein, former Chancellor of the Republic of Austria, Heinz Fischer,former President of the Republic of Austria, founder of the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens, Gábor Halmai, Professor and Chair of Comparative Constitutional Law, European University Institute in Florence, Didier Reynders, EU-Commissioner for Justice, Mirosław Wyrzykowski, Professor, Comparative and Economic Law Division, Institute of Legal Administrative Studies on Warsaw University and Alma Zadić, Federal Minister of Justice of the Republic of Austria.
The European Presidents’ Conference, has always been met with high interest and respect from Austrian authorities. It is a tradition that a day before the conference, the Mayor of City of Vienna hosts the welcome evening reception. During the main day of the conference, Federal President of Austria welcomes conference participants in his official seat as well as a meeting with the Federal Chancellor takes place on that day. In the second day’s morning, a Federal Minister of Justice meets with conference attendees in the premises of the Ministry of Justice.
On January 30, 2020, AEA-EAL President Maria Ślązak participated as an invited expert in a hearing organized by the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Council of Europe (CoC) on the principles and guarantees of advocates. She delivered an oral intervention on legal instruments protecting the legal profession and their effectiveness in securing citizens’ rights to independent legal advice and defense. The invitation was a result of previous activities of the AEA-EAL, including the organization and co-organization of the conferences on the profession of a lawyer in Almaty and Tbilisi in 2018.
The hearing was organized in the framework of works on the European Convention on the Profession of a Lawyer in order to prepare an introductory memorandum of the Committee for the Parliamentary Assembly of the CoC) on possible improvements in the given area.
Maria Ślązak was talking about existing legal guarantees for lawyers, mainly the Recommendation Rec (2000)21 of the Committee of Ministers on freedom of exercise of the profession of a lawyer. She pointed out that the document is not legally binding for the Member States and its principles like independence, protection of confidential relations between a lawyer and his/ her client, or prohibition of sanctions, pressure, and threats against lawyers are often violated by some Member States.
AEA-EAL President noted that existing soft law such as Recommendation is not sufficient instrument to motivate authorities of Member States to respect lawyers’ rights which are absolutely necessary for proper delivery of legal assistance. The hard law is needed to assure citizens that legal support will be delivered in conditions giving full respect to authorities for rule of law in their countries.
Save the date in your calendar – three new AEA-EAL conferences has been announced: 25 – 27 June in Białystok, Poland, 10 – 13 September in Odessa, Ukraine and 29 October in Bern, Switzerland. Stay tuned for updates!
Legal language in practice of lawyers and courts – 25 – 27 June 2020 in Białystok, Poland – cancelled – see below
We cordially invite you for AEA-EAL conference organized together with the Białystok Bar of Attorneys-at-law devoted to the main tool used every day by every lawyer – language. Three main areas will be explored:
Understanding of legal language by the public
Common meaning of terms of legal language within the EU
New technologies and influence of them on legal language.
Białystok is a capital of Podlasie Region, where various cultures, nations and religions created a unique local traditions and customs. Podlasie is known as „Green Lungs of Poland” with wild forests, rivers, unique animals (the only natural Bisons in Europe!) and many more listed on UNESCO World Heritage List. For conference participants an extensive sightseeing program is foreseen to discover miracles of the nature.
Due to Covid 19 pandemic the conference has been cancelled. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Twinning of Lawyers – 10 – 13 September 2020 in Odessa, Ukraine
For the second time we invite all colleagues from East and the West to participate the Twinning of Lawyers – a unique event designed in particular to strengthen professional and personal relations between lawyers from various countries. Hosting foreign colleagues at lawyers’ homes, number of networking activities and tourist program will make us closer to each other regardless region or legal jurisdiction.
The draft program of the Twinning is following:
(subject to changes)
Thursday, 10 September
arrival of participants
dinners hosted by Ukrainian colleagues at their homes
Friday, 11 September
seminar on Social responsibility of bar associations and lawyers
dinner offered by the Collegium of Advocates of Odessa
Saturday, 12 September
networking activities/ sightseeing program
Sunday, 13 September
departures of participants
Odessa is known for its beauty, mild mediterranean climate, very good cuisine & vines as well as warm Black Sea. You must visit it!
More information coming soon!
Panorama of Thun city in the canton of Bern with Alps and Thunersee lake, Switzerland.
Seminar Market Access and EEA – Free Trade – and alternatives – 29 October 2020 in Bern, Switzerland
For the third time time we organize a seminar on various aspects of access to the European Single Market. In Autumn 2020 we will face final stage of post-brexit negotiations between the United Kingdom and the European Union, which will bring a new model of trade relations between those parties. Also, membership negotiations between the EU and some Western Balkans states are foreseen to begin. All will bring new challenges, which will be discussed in Bern. Do not miss the opportunity to meet top experts and specialist!
The tenth annual Day of the Endangered Lawyer, on January 24, 2020, will focus on Pakistan
Over the past several years lawyers in Pakistan have been subjected to acts of mass terrorism, murder, attempted murder, assaults, (death) threats, contempt proceedings, harassment and intimidation in the execution of their professional duties. They have also been arrested, detained or tortured, and in some cases the family members of murdered lawyers have also been murdered.
Some lawyers have been threatened with disbarment or had their homes raided by the police. Sometimes christian lawyers or members of minority sects have been assaulted or threatened with death.
The most notorious attack on Pakistani lawyers occurred on August 8, 2016 when terrorists attacked the Government Hospital of Quetta with a suicide bombing and shooting which resulted in the death of 54 lawyers.
Since then there has been an alarming increase in the number of lawyers murdered, with nine reported over the past year.
Four organisations (IAPL, AED, ELDH and the Foundation Day of the Endangered Lawyer) are working close together again to prepare the next day, with full support from the coalition of lawyer organizations and BAR associations as founded this year in Brussels and a large number of other lawyers and BAR associations from all over the world.
The most recent step was the publication of a basic report about the present situation of the lawyers in Pakistan. In this basic report the situation of a number of lawyers is highlighted, in general the most serious cases. Most of the contents for this document were delivered by Pakistani lawyers as well as lawyer and BAR associations which are involved and specialised in the situation in Pakistan.
Maria Ślazak, AEA-EAL President participated as a speaker in 7th International Conference of Lawyers organized by the The Georgian Bar Association (GBA) in partnership with the Council of Europe as a part of celebrations of the anniversary of 100 years of the GBA.Apart from addressing the assembly of lawyers, Maria delivered a presentation on key aspects of independence of legal profession and of their professional unions. It is worth to mention that also Jędrzej Klatka, our member from Katowice, Poland, and Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Polish National Bar of Attorneys at law, made a presentation on interrelationship between the use of social networks by Advocates and their ethical obligations in the context of freedom of expression.
Today’s AEA-EAL panel of experts on Market Access and Market Fragmentation – Unilateral and Agreed Standards gathered top experts, legal practitioners, governmental officials, ambassadors and top management of several sectors of Swiss industry.
Presentations of speakers will be available soon on our website
Thanks to Professor Philipp Zurkinden, AEA-EAL Past President and Professor Michael Hahn, Director of the World Trade Institute, University of Bern, we organised for the second time a highly successful conference on the legal parameters of market access and market fragmentation including international and unilateral standards.
The conference brought together high-level speakers representing perspectives of various state and non-state actors. Conference speakers focused on specific sectors and problems like: Financial Services: International Standards and Market Access in the Post-Crisis Era, Strategies for Swiss Financial Market, Cross-border coordination and cooperation: A Supervisor’s Perspective, question on EU Market Access – an Uphill Battle for the Swiss Finance Industry? Defying Gravity: The Switzerland – UK Agreements of 2019 and the challenges of extricating from regional market access regimes, Internalizing Environmental, Social and Governance Standards in Investment Banking: Tackling the long-term in a short-term world, Market Access for Pharmaceuticals, and Market Access for Med-tech Products.
After discussion panels, a roundtable took place with participation of Marion Jansen, ITC Geneva, Monica Mächler, Zurich Insurance Group, Professor Michael Hahn and Professor Philipp Zurkinden.
Organized in the „Polish Manchester”, industrial XIX century city of Łódź Legal Business Forum had the aim to show a practical implementation of new technologies in our daily work. We focused on such topics as digital transformation in law offices, impact and making use of concrete IT tools like blockchain, smart contracts, etc. in the light of changing professional practice, predictive justice or Artificial Intelligence and robotics in law and regulations. Our priority was to present very practical innovation and technologies and its influence on performing legal profession and business.
Fantastic first panel on technological change on legal services market brought three perspectives: from a legal practitioner, from a bar association and from a legal-tech start-up.
Second panel on new technologies and IT tools in legal practice showed us a case of an phishing attack on a law firm and its consequences, a look into smart contracts as well as how AI may help lawyers not replacing them.
Third panel on AI and human rights gave us overview on serious issues connected: shall AI be a subject of human rights? How to attribute rights to it? And many, many more!
The fourth panel was a combination of presentations and discussions between lawyers and business on supporting each other in the reality of technology and economy.
The fifth panel on blockchain technology took us into two divided worlds that should become one in future: world of lawyers and world of IT specialists.
The audience was not only listening to the speakers but discussed lively during the breaks
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