President's Blog, August 2024
Posted: 30 Aug 2024 by Rachael Kelsey
Back to work, people! Whether it’s only distant, fond memories of summer holidays, or you coming out of hibernation into spring, welcome back! We have a packed IAFL calendar to take us to the end of the year - not least with the new, bonus, option of a fourth IAFL meeting to choose from for the first time! I hope to see many of you in Seattle in a few short weeks, and if you have not yet booked for Paris, get your skates on, because we are now looking at closing registration soon, given how popular it has been.
Dates for your diary 2024
Beyond the meetings in person, we have lots of other ways that you can enjoy time with your IAFL colleagues, learn and get involved. We are partnering with the Commonwealth Lawyers Association for a webinar on 17th September 2024 on Cybercrime and Intimate Partner Violence, with practitioner and judicial speakers from Trinidad and Tobago, Nigeria, South Africa and the UK. At the time of writing we have nearly 200 people signed up and there is good space on the programme for Q&A, so come along and participate, if you are able. You can register here.
There is then another webinar on 17th October 2024 on Wealth Planning for Divorce Clients organised by the European Chapter with Nedbank, who are sponsoring the Paris meeting. We hope to have another webinar for you on Dispute Resolution in November- watch this space! You can find information about webinars on the ‘Events’ tab of the website here, and it’s also worth having a roam there, as we also have information about meetings organised by other associations that might be of interest to you.
What we’ve been up to
There’s been lots of beetling done by the Management Group (the wee group of the officers, who deal with operational issues in between the quarterly meetings of the Executive Committee as a whole - President, Immediate Past President, President-Elect, President-Elect Designate, Treasurer, Assistant Treasurer and Secretary) since my last blog. Work is ongoing on the move of the Academy to Illinois, and President-Elect Designate, Suzanne Todd, deserves a medal for her patience on this, and the associated work on the bylaws - I think (fingers and toes crossed) that we are nearly there…. President Elect, Heather Hostetter, has spent more time than she needs reminding of on the revamp of our admissions process (watch this space- exciting new online application and reference forms tailored to the different Chapters incoming!). An enormous amount of work, and managed beautifully, as she has juggled the challenge of making sure that we maintain the rigour of the process, while also ensuring that it is less burdensome to administer and more transparent than it perhaps has been to date. Jason Naimi and Mudita Chawla, Treasurer and Assistant Treasurer respectively, have done the budgeting for 2025 and have the ongoing joy that is review of contracts for upcoming meetings. The Management Group meet fortnightly, and we are joined on a rotational basis by the Vice-Presidents and the Chapter Presidents. I know I say it a lot, but it bears repeating - if you are interested in getting more involved in the leadership, governance and administration of the Academy as a whole (as distinct from the Chapters), let me know, as we are always on the lookout for people who want to take part.
Flying the flag for IAFL
Meantime, as an update on some of the other IAFL things that I have been up to over the summer… I had a wonderful short trip to Nairobi with IAFL Counsel, Elizabeth Carson, to meet with some of the people who we will be partnering with next year at the AGM in September 2025. We had the privilege of meeting with the Chief Justice and President of the Supreme Court of Kenya, Her Ladyship Martha Koome, and her amazing staff; the President of the Law Society of Kenya, Faith Odhiambo; Lady Justice Teresia Matheka of the High Court and the office of Harriette Chiggai, who is the President’s Adviser on Women’s Rights (after a frustratingly close attempt to meet Ms Chiggai in person, in the 60 minute overlap we had at the airport in Nairobi!).
We were able to meet our two Kenyan fellows and the Child Justice Adviser to the
Chief Justice, Juliet Nyambura Gachanja
while we were there, which was wonderful, as well as the Kenyan recipient of the Early Career Award, Opiyo Ochieng. I can’t tell you how excited I am about the plans that are being hatched for next year- there are so many extraordinary things going on in the family law sphere there, and we will have a jam-packed education programme for you. There has been such enthusiasm for us coming, we are going to be intellectually challenged, spiritually uplifted and replete with good food, good company and beautiful scenery - get the dates marked into your diary now - 3rd to 7th September 2025, You might want to hold off booking flights, in case you can do a wee trip before or after - details to come shortly from our destination management people. We have asked them to arrange a short, less expensive, option to go north of Nairobi for 24/48 hours to Naivasha - that would be by road and is about 2.5 hours away. Lake Naivasha has flamingos and hippos! And then a 2-3 day trip by air for the more adventurous to see big animals in the Masai Mara….
Then another whistle-stop tour to Mexico City with Vice President, Carolina Marin Pedreno, to meet family lawyers of the Mexican Bar Association arranged by the incoming President, our fellow, Ana Maria Kudisch and to speak at the Mexican Senate at a conference on surrogacy, organised by Senator Cora Cecilia Pinedo Alonso. It was a privilege to be invited to take part with others from Mexico, the US, Argentina, Cuba, Costa Rica and Spain. Carolina and I were able to speak about the regulatory regime in the UK, provide some international observations arising from the Hague Conference Working Group on the Parentage and Surrogacy Project at which we have Observer status, and to meet the Mexican Government representative on the Working Group, Dra Mercedes Albornez, in real life!
And a happy, and finally
The presidency of IAFL is a real joy. You get to meet the most extraordinary people who care passionately about the rule of law, the administration of, and access to, justice; people who are committed to their clients and colleagues, and who are full of energy for what can be done to make things better. People who are also able to stuff life’s quart into a pint pot, as we say. Primus inter pares must be Ana Maria…. She spent the morning chairing one of the sessions at the Mexican Senate - and got married that afternoon to the wonderful Lalo (Eduardo), whom some of you will have met in Marrakech! Felicidades a los novios!
Rachael
