The Lawyer of the future
Opening cermony : Maria del Carmen Gonzalez Grau, Bar of Malaga, Salvador Gonzalez Martin, dean of Malaga Bar, Izabella Konopacka, president of the FBE
Our president Izabela Konopacka thanks warmly the Bar of Malaga, speaks of the projects of the FBE (among them GEMME, EUIPO) and evokes the topics of the congress.
Plenary session “The Lawyer of the Future »
Moderator : Izabela Konopacka, President of the FBE
Anticipated changes in legal practice due to the advancements in AITechnology and identification of promising legal fields
Rosa I. Peña.Council Member Responsible for international relations. Barcelona Bar Association.
She presents the challenges of the AI and stresses the importance oft he relation with the client in this matter. She presents the project ALIAT of the Barcelona Bar. The bar is choosing a IA solution for implementing in the bar in order to offer solutions for the law firms.
She is positive and think that our profession will evolve in the good way. We can concentrate on our creative activity and also reduce the costs. The human will still stay in the center.
Intellectual Property and innovation in the EU-a bright future ahead
Nicolas Vigneron. Head of Service, Customer Experience and SME Network Service at the EUIPO.
He presents the EUIPO (more than 1000 employees) which is the second institution in the european union in the field of intellectual property. He evokes the different aspects of the activities .He stresses that we need to simplify all the system of intellectual property aiming to be quicker and cheaper. He notives that we are celebrating today the first year of the unitary patent in all the member states.
Understanding the role of Mediation in ensuring better access to Justice
Monika Wlodarczyk.Vice President, European Judges Group for Mediation. GEMME.
She explains that GEMME is not only open for judges (the organisation has to count 2/3 of judges). She promotes the mediation and says several sentences which summarize it: «the best lawyer is the one who loves more people than law» African proverb: «they are not men in conflict they are only two men who have not discussed.». Abraham Lincoln: «Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often a real loser—in fees, expenses, and waste of time. As a peacemaker the lawyer has a superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough.»
Interventions in the public: Erich Heinke thinks that between litigation and medistion it is not all white and all black. We lawyers have to defend the best inerests of our clients and sometimes there is no other choice than to litigate.
Addressing Gender Equality issues within the legal profession
Silvia Giménez-Salinas. Former President of the Fédération des Barreaux d ́Europe (FBE). and Emeritus President of the Barcelona Bar Association
She speaks about gender equality and the necessity of a global perspective in all modern matters and challenges of our time.
She says that the law firms are often organized hierarchically and the capacity to be available for the clients and to be able to generate business and honoraries. They are much less women lawyers in the hierarchy of law firms. She evokes the evolution of the mentalities. It is not any more an alternative to choose between the family and the job. Therefore in the last 3 decades the women are much more present. She evokes the work of the Conseil national des Barreaux with ist programm «diversity and inclusion» and the efforts in different bars (Nederlands; ICAB, etc).
Iza Konopacka mentions the initiative oft he FBE with the «Women Leaders in Law» days.
Session on: “Intellectual Property and Innovation in the UE- Envisioning a Bright Future.Evolving Role of Lawyers in IPLaw”
Analysis of the changing landscape of intellectual property in the digital era and the opportunities it offers for lawyers and clients, with a focus on the impact of new EU regulations on Geographical Indications for Craft and Industrial Products.
Moderator: Maria Dymitruk. President of the FBE New Technologies Commission.
Jakub Michalik. Head of International, Institutional Affairs and Communications, European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).
Jonas Wehleit. Member of the German Association on Intellectual Property Law.
Nicolas Vigneron. Head of Service, Customer Expérience and SME Network Service at the EUIPO
Nicolas Vigneron for the EUIPO and Izabella Konopacka for the FBE sign an agreement of cooperation after some interesting explanations about the work and the collaborations of EUIPO.
Jakub Michalik. Head of International, Institutional Affairs and Communications, European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).
He evokes the benefits of the AI in all the domains of the life. He stresses that AI is vey much used in the insurance sector, that the use of blockchain technology is growing fast (for example in assets management) and that all these instruments offer a huge opportunity for increasing the productivity in the finance ans insurance sector.
Jonas Wehleit. Member of the German Association on Intellectual Property Law.
Where are we with the AI and the IT? No regulation in the moment and in the near future. He evokes also the blockchains technology.
The case law in this matter practically doesn’t exist.
Session on: “Litigate orMediate? This is the question »
Exploration of how mediation can become an effective tool for better access to justice with lawyer assistance, featuring insights from lawyers and judges.
Moderator: Carles García Roqueta. President FBE Mediation Commission.
Marc Labbe. Vice President European Bars Federation (FBE). Esteban Rondón Mata. General Director of Juvenile Justice and Cooperation, Local Administration and Civil Service. Government of Andalusia. Inmaculada Jiménez Martín. Former Coordinator of the Mediation Section of the Malaga Bar Association. Michele Calantropo. President of the FBE Arbitration. Commission. Marzena Korzonek. President of the District Court in Poland and Member of GEMME
See the summary of Carles Roqueta and the powerpoint of Marc Labbé
Simultaneous panels
Gender Equality in the Legal Sphere
Deliberation on the need of implementation of gender quotas and targets by Bar Associations and law firms, and exploration of reasons behind the underrepresentation of women in leadership positions despite outnumbering men in the legal profession.
Moderator: Michael Griem. 2nd Vice President FBE.
Fernanda de Almeida Pinheiro. President Ordem dos Advogados de Portugal. Maria Slazak. President AEA, European Association of Lawyers. Sara Chandler former President FBE. Flor Carrasco. Vice Dean of the Malaga Bar Association.
As a spontaneus speaker Elham Zanjani, who is a member of the Women’s Committee of theNational Council of Resistance of Iran, took part in the panel and reported about the human rights situation for Iranian women since the uprise against the shah in 1979, the following developments under the Mullah regime and the actual situation for women in Iran. Her report which was filled with experiences of violence againstand imprisoning and torture of women was very impressive and relativated the discussion on Gender Equality in the legal sphere.
Fernanda de Almeida Pinheiro, Maria Slazak, Sara Chandler and Flor Carrasco spoke about Gender Equality in the Legal Sphere. They all recognize much more man than women in leading positions, both in bar associations and in law firms on a partner level. They analysed different education of boys and girls as one main reason for this situation. Consequence of their considerations is, that women have to be promoted. All speakers agreed that this has to be done by binding quotas, wheresoever the speakers had different opinions about their favourable content and wording of thinkable quota-regulations.
Session on AI in Legal Practice
Discussion on leveraging AI-based tools to enhance legal proficiency while adhering to ethical standards and cybersecurity protocols.
Moderator: Maria Dymitruk, President of the FBE New Technologies Commission.
Francesco Spina and Flavia Betti. Members of the FBE New Technologies Commission. Christoph Munz. Former Treasurer of the European Bars Federation, FBE. Ludmila Glembotzky Goya. Member of the FBE New Technologies Commission. Alba Márquez Canalejo. Global Head of Expansion at Google Cloud Security.
Maria Dymitruk evokes the case of a New York lawyer who was condemned because of using chat gpt for his plaidoirie.
Francesco Spina insists on the necessity of the education of lawyers. It is crucial to avoid such mistakes. He stresses that when the guidelines were published in June 2023 some new tools were not known. Will we really be able to make regulations compatible with the very fast developpment oft the AI landscape?
Flavia Torti speaks of the concern about AI and environment. We have to be conscious that the energy consumption is absolute enorm while using AI.
Christoph Munz has a very practical approach and mentions among other the communication to the clients. He gives the example of a question about how to cook a pizza (the answer was tu put glue on the pizza because the AI was not able to check that it was a joke)
Conclusions
Presentation of the book “Historical formationand values of the European Legal Profession.José María Davó Fernández. Former Dean of the Malaga Bar Association
End of the Congress
