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Programme

ACADEMIC PROGRAMME

  • Wednesday 4 September
  • Thursday 5 September
  • Friday 6 September

Sustainable society

The first day will be dedicated to the theme of ‘Sustainable Society’. Sessions will concentrate around societal challenges, including those related to environmental degradation (UN SDG Goal 13), economic prosperity (UN SDG Goal 8), social inclusion, gender equality (UN SDG Goal 5), industry, innovation and infrastructure (UN SDG Goal 9), urban environment (UN SDG Goal 11), or biodiversity loss (UN SDG Goal 15).

SUSTAINABLE COMPANY

The second day will be all about key opportunities and challenges some industries face and how companies can strengthen current practices and mitigate risk to deliver meaningful and long-term contributions to a more sustainable planet. Critical issues, such as climate change (UN SDG Goal 13), inequalities (UN SDG Goal 10), securing resilient supply chains (UN SDG Goal 8), or sustainable investing will be part of the schedule.

SUSTAINABLE LAW PRACTICE

The third day will address the transformation of the practice of law and how the Sustainable Development Goals can help law firms deliver their sustainability programmes and ambitions.

Social programme

  • Tuesday 3 September
  • Wednesday 4 September
  • Thursday 5 September
  • Friday 6 September
  • Saturday 7 September

AIJA meetings

  • Tuesday 3 September
  • Wednesday 4 September
  • Thursday 5 September
  • Friday 6 September
  • Saturday 7 September

Coaching at the congress

Public speaking crash course – open for all

For lawyers, content is king.

But if you cannot deliver your message in a way that people actually listen, you won’t get the content across.

Elevate your stage presence, fine tune your presentation and practice your speech for greater impact!

Join us at the free Public Speaking Crash Course organised by AIJA’s SCILL (Skills, Career, Innovation, Leadership & Learning) Commission with the help of public speaking coach Wendy Rundberg. This will take place on Tuesday, 3 September, from 14:00 to 17:30.

You will learn last minute tricks and tips to enhance the professional delivery and impact of your communication and content.

If you’re one of the congress speakers this year, you will also have the chance to rehearse parts of your respective speeches (max. 3 minutes, ideally the beginning and/or the ending) in front of a live audience consisting of fellow speakers and moderators. You will get valuable feedback on body language, rhetoric and impact. This is a chance not to miss!

One-to-one coaching session with Debra Forman, Pinstripe Coaching

Debra, certified executive coach and principal of Pinstripe Coaching, will be providing personal coaching sessions to congress participants in Rome, as part of our programme.

Debra has actively been affiliated with AIJA for many years and brings to the Association more than 30 years of experience working with lawyers who want to foster communication and leadership skills, attain time, productivity and project management efficiencies, and effectively position themselves in their markets.

Coaching time slots will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

One-to-one coaching session with Wendy Rundberg, Pluq Proud Presentations

During the private coaching, you will learn how to deliver clear messages to your audience. You can try different techniques and see what impact they have, you can learn what you can improve in order to impress your audience. All participants will receive targeted and constructive individual feedback.

Wendy Rundberg, coach and trainer, will help you find and deliver your key messages in your public speaking & professional presentations. She has experience in the field of personal performance for over 10 years. She guides individuals and teams to success with her engaged and professional way of working, and result driven mindset. Many companies have benefitted from her expertise. Wendy worked with corporates by crafting their Business Presentations, helped company’s to win Tenders with their presentations and coached various Keynote & TEDx speakers. Her program “VideoPitching for Professionals” is great for entrepreneurs and other professionals, which will help profiling yourself in this digital era.

One-to-one coaching session with Petr Mára

Technology has become part of our lives so quickly that sometimes it’s really hard to be able to use it the right, productive way.

Petr, Certified Apple trainer, public speaker & podcaster will be providing private sessions focused on productivity in the context of technology. He can help you with these topics: How to use the iPhone or Mac more effectively? Which Apps can help me to track my tasks? How to keep my data secure and private? How to make your productivity system even better (Petr is a big fan of Getting Things Done methodology)? Can social networks help me to promote my business and how?

Feel free to check Petr’s LinkedIn profile and other social networks to find out what are his interests and topics to discuss.

One-to-one coaching session with Thomas Bourne

Thomas is happy to offer coaching on the following subjects:

  • Commercial Intelligence – the subject of his keynote talk on Friday 6 September. You will benefit from his insights gained as both lawyer and businessman into how lawyers can develop a more empathetic approach to their clients’ business in order to build longer, deeper and more sustainable relationships;
  • Social & Environmental Impact – as an expert in the field of measuring and managing environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance, and how they relate to business strategies and operations, he can help you understand this fast growing global trend and how it applies to your firm and its clients.”

Thomas Bourne was a commercial employment lawyer in the UK for 7 years before leaving law to run an organic food production and retail business. It was during this time, and having done a masters-level course in the Circular Economy, that he developed a passion for sustainability and the role of business in providing solutions to the most pressing social and environmental issues. He is now an independent consultant, working with businesses to measure, manage and improve their positive impact on planet and people.

Expert session: Strategic business planning with Robert F. van Beemen, Venturis Consulting Group

Where to Play | How to Play | Can we Win?

We live and work in a world that is dominated by Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity (‘VUCA’). VUCA is not just a challenge to develop a strategy, it has become the framework wherein law firms need to develop and execute their strategy (Where to Play | How to Play | Can we Win?).

  • The Geographical expansion by the Global Elite and International Business Law Firms (‘IBLs’);
  • The Transformation from a Supply-Driven-model to a Demand-Driven-model (Old Law vs. New Law);
  • Changing Client Loyalty and Demands;
  • The increasing importance and impact of Operational Excellence and Technology; and
  • The rise of Alternative Legal Service Providers (‘ALSPs’),

lead to increasing competition and a clear market segmentation; law firms from all sizes are forced to make clear and bright strategic choices. Many law firms, practice – and sector groups, and partners confuse personal and professional ambitions and aspirations with strategy, or they simply lack the discipline to execute the agreed strategic actions.

At the AIJA Congress in Rome, Robert F. van Beemen | partner at Venturis Consulting Group, will facilitate individual Strategic Business Planning sessions, including:

  • An Introductory and Interactive Plenary Group Session via video conference
  • A Strategic Business Planning template
  • A Hotline for questions and to share your strategic thoughts
  • The Individual Strategic Business Planning Session in Rome
  • Aftercare…
  • And a free copy of the Special Report Legal Tech and Digital Transformation | Competitive Positioning and Business Models of Law Firms, Globe Law and Business 2018

Expert session: Meet the M&A Insurers – taking the risk out of your deals with Massimo Ruscio and Robin Lawless, Dual Asset

DUAL Asset Underwriting (DAU) is a Managing General Agency, established in May 2013 to provide specialist insurance products to protect or more efficiently transact property assets; real estate, mortgages, inherited assets, shares, airplanes & helicopters, around the world.

DUAL Asset is part of DUAL International, which is part of the Hyperion Group. After only 5 years, DUAL Asset is the by far the largest title insurer outside of the USA, with annual premium of €60M and employees 37 people among Warsaw, London, Norwich, Manchester and Dublin.

Why you should want to meet us?

  • Because we are the most innovative in the market (among other things, first to have launched the Title/W&I hybrid product);
  • Because we have a fully dedicated underwriting team with great legal & language skills;
  • Because we have a very flat structure to avoid delays and get fast approvals;
  • Because we have the simplest, insured-friendly and broadest wording in the Market, which can be subject to your jurisdiction and customised to suite your specific needs;
  • Because we have insured the broadest range of red flags, both referred to Title to Shares and Asset, helping you get the deal done;
  • Because we can insure any kind of deal, regardless of its size;
  • Because we only cooperate with A Rated top Insurers.

Provided services:
Title Indemnity for Commercial and Residential transactions, Title to shares, Share Ownership and Title to Aircraft, Inheritance Protection Insurance and Excess W&I.

In general, our policy protects against unknown risks and complements the due diligence process. Our policy protects you for the length of time you own the asset, unlike time limited W&I insurance.
Where specific risks are discovered, we can cover them into the policy. These insured specific risks would pass to any new buyer, improving the asset/shares and its/their saleability.

Experienced property professionals use our products to cut time, cost and risk from the transaction process.
Why Sellers use transactional insurance:

  • Replace warranties that Sellers don’t want to or can’t give;
  • Avoid escrow & accelerate the winding up of funds.
  • Quick exit – they want to reinvest sale proceeds quickly, without worrying about warranty liability;
  • Get better finance terms from finance parties.

Why Buyers use transactional insurance:

  • Better financial conditions in negotiations DD red flags with finance partner;
  • Seller’s warranties aren’t worth much from the Buyer’s perspective;
  • They want to insure the warranties, but the W&I is too expensive for the deal size;
  • They want to insure 100% of the asset value, not 10% or 20%;
  • They don’t have time to perform usual DD.

BEST international future award

We are excited to invite law students to participate in the Best International Future Lawyer Award competition focused on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) this year. The competition is organised by AIJA, the international association of young lawyers.

The aim of the competition is to develop law students’ understanding of the global development agenda. We want to encourage them to identify international legal frameworks or law approaches in achieving the SDGs.

“If I could change the world…how can I, as a future lawyer, contribute to a more sustainable world?”


FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE COMPETITION