Stepping back into antiquity for a view of future progress - Legalink AGM in Athens

Sometimes, the day to day relentless moving from one activity to the next in our busy lives can prevent us from seeing the bigger picture. 

That is why I was so grateful to spend a few days in Athens, hosted by Moussas & Partners law firm, with lawyers from 51 firms in countries around the world, to take a step back and contemplate the bigger picture at the Legalink Annual General Meeting. 

Despite being a global network spanning continents, Legalink feels like a group of colleagues, even friends. Open and frank discussions about the risks posed by AI in the legal profession, confessions of the current struggles to retain talent, and excited exploration of cross-border opportunities in the markets were shared over drinks as the sun set over the Acropolis.    

The next few days provided food for thought for lawyers from all sectors and practice areas. We kicked off the AGM with a seminar hosted by the Women in Law Group, which I co-chair alongside Carla Leandro from Servulo & Associados in Portugal. 

It is my strong belief that until gender equality is reached in the legal profession, our law firms, our clients and more widely our justice systems cannot achieve their full potential. It was therefore a real highlight for me to speak to a room full of (mostly male!) senior lawyers keen to learn more about how to bridge this gap, and fully engaged on seeking solutions for progress in this area. 

We were inspired by speeches from Spyridoula Megalokonomou (General Counsel at Metlen Energy) and Mafalda Mascarenhas (General Counsel at IMB), on their journeys and visions as women in law. They talked about how a fulfilling career should not compete with our life, but complement it, and reminded us that the true measure of success was not in titles or even in pay cheques, but in the extent to which we live in alignment with our values.    

I also had the pleasure of moderating a dynamic panel discussion entitled “Why Elevating Women in Law Makes $ense?” which focused on the business case for gender equality. Panel members Carla Leandro (Sérvulo & Associados, Portugal), Temidayo Ajayi (Detail Commercial Solicitors, Nigeria), Victoria Villela Boacnin (Felsberg Advogados, Brazil), Sonia Abraham (Azman Davidson & Co , Malaysia), and Paulo Câmara (Sérvulo & Associados, Portugal) explained how prioritising inclusion in law firms improves quality of recruits, increases retention of talent, and increases profitability. 

The message for firms worldwide is clear - prioritise progress on equality or risk being outperformed by your competitors who do. 

The learning continued on the following days, where we heard a panel of lawyers from USA, Canada, Korea, Brazil and the Netherlands moderated by Legalink Chair, Christopher Trowbridge, on foreign direct investment. In particular we learned about the impact of USA's recent tariff changes in different continents and how this creates legal challenges as well as opportunities in today's interdependent economies. Ian Felice and I attended different practice sessions, learning about the trends in the M&A markets, construction and real estate sector, and the offerings of different jurisdictions for wealth and estate planning. 

Another highlight was a key note speech from former Deputy Prime Minister of Greece Mr. Evangelos Venizelos, on lessons from Greece's economic crisis. A line from his speech about the roles of the legal system stuck with me – in current times, amongst political turbulence, shocking headlines and state leaders whose impact is felt far beyond their own shores, our courts are the guarantors of the rule of law, of western values, liberal democracy and fairness. 

That’s the bigger picture which us lawyers can forget amongst the drafting contracts, the calls with counsel and the billable hours. Ultimately, we need to be the best that we can be, as lawyers, as law firms and as legal systems, so we can contribute to making the world a fairer, more just, better place.