The Spring Conference in Brussels started on Friday 3 May with a reception at the BELvue Museum of Belgian history, a beautiful and historical location. Over a hundred delegates had the opportunity to meet new colleagues and catch up with old friends.  Vincent Asselineau, chair of the ECBA, welcomed everyone as warmly as ever. The speech of the Chairman of the Brussels French Bar Association, Adv. Emmanuel Plasschaert, made all delegates feel very welcome in the Belgian capital. 

The next morning, Saturday 4 May, the conference proceeded in the Hall des Marbres of the Université Libre de Bruxelles/ULB.

Vincent Asselineau opened with a warm welcome and thanked our Belgian colleagues for their hospitality. There were over 120 delegates in Brussels - this conference was a great success.

After a short introduction by our Chair, the floor was given to Alexis Anagnostakis, ECBA Human Rights Officer, to introduce the Scott Crosby Human Rights Award 2023. This moment was one of the highlights of the conference, a moment that underscored the importance of recognising individuals who have made indelible marks on the global stage. The son and daughter of Scott Crosby joined the occasion. The award this year rewarded the two-following women for their amazing work on the field:

• Françoise Tulkens, former Judge and Vice-President of the ECHR, Belgium; and
  
  
• Nancy Hollander, defence lawyer, USA.

Françoise Tulkens, a distinguished Belgian lawyer and former Vice-President of the European Court of Human Rights, symbolises brilliance and unwavering commitment to justice. Her groundbreaking achievements not only exemplify excellence in legal practice but also inspire generations of legal professionals.
Equally deserving of accolades is Nancy Hollander, a renowned U.S. criminal defence lawyer known for her fearless representation of Guantanamo Bay detainees and of whistleblower Chelsea Manning. Her portrayal in the film "The Mauritanian" brought to light the challenges faced by those seeking justice in complex legal landscapes. The conference served as a reminder of the pivotal role women continue to play in shaping legal discourse and advancing human rights globally. Ms. Tulkens and Ms. Hollander stand as beacons of hope and determination, showcasing that dedication and perseverance can break barriers and pave the way for a more just society. Their achievements reverberate beyond their respective fields, igniting passion and drive among attendees to uphold the principles of fairness and equality in their own legal endeavors. The conference's theme of celebrating excellence and pushing boundaries in law and human rights resonated deeply, reminding us all of the ongoing journey towards a more equitable and just world.

As women historically have a marginalised role, it is important to see that these two women have been able to make their way in this masculine dominated field. These women have shattered the glass ceiling and should be an inspiration for all of us to dream big and aim high.

In her acceptance speech Françoise Tulkens reminded us that receiving this award is a responsibility to continue to promote human rights in everything. While it is true that the situation is sometimes frustrating, one needs to remind that the European Court of Human Rights is the last rampart of the human rights in Europe and each lawyer is important and plays an important role in the defence of human rights.

Nancy Hollander explained that she comes from a country that is shameful on many levels when it comes to the respect of human rights. She talked about the role of the United States in the slaughters happening around the globe and the importance of our job as lawyers.

Panel 1: Visions for the future of European policy in the field of criminal matters

Chair: Vânia Costa Ramos, ECBA Vice Chair, and Mona Giacometti, defence lawyer and ULB Professor, Belgium

Panel:

• Anne Weyembergh, Law Professor ULB, Belgium
• Daniel Flore, General Director of Legislation, Freedoms and Fundamental Rights Department, Ministry of Justice, Belgium
• Fabio Giuffrida, Team Leader, DG Just, EU Commission, Belgium
• Q&A  

This panel was a very interesting mix of presentations and sharing visions for the future of EU Criminal Law, from the perspective of academics, member states and the European Commission.

Vânia Costa Ramos first introduced Prof. Anne Weyembergh. A recent agreement was found between the ECBA and the ULB with the help of Prof. Weyembergh. The idea is to promote criminal law defence and connect with young lawyers.

Anne Weyembergh started with two transversal remarks. She reminded that 1) many provisions at the EU level have an impact on criminal policy even if they are not part of the core rules of criminal law 2) many EU instruments have been adopted during certain crisis and the external factors have led some rules to be adopted in a hurry without a real reflection. There are over-criminalisation risks. There is for instance no basis for alternative detention, also there is a reluctance to deepen procedural safeguards, on the one hand, but there are lots of criminal repressive measures, on the other hand. There is a need of coherence, the need to respect the rules of proportionality and subsidiarity. Criminal law should be an ultimum remedium.

She then talked about the three pillars of EU criminal regulation.

Anne Weyembergh explained that in her opinion there is an important need to ensure coherence and harmonisation between the criminal policies. There is a real need to improve the defence rights. A reflection should be relaunched in the field of approximation of sanctions for instance. As far as the admission of evidence in criminal proceedings are concerned, it is very important to have common standards.

Regarding the mechanism of judicial cooperation and recognition, there is a real need for the legislator to modernise the rules. She gave for instance the example of the application of the rule ne bis in idem which is today totally outdated, among other things. There is a need for reflection regarding mutual recognition of extradition decisions.

Several other questions were discussed such as:

• Detention conditions,
• Minimum set of investigative measures,
• Measures to facilitate mutual recognition,
• Compensation for unjustified damage,
• Transformation into Directives to rationalise the mutual recognition approach,
• EU actors,
• European Public Prosecutor’s Office: is there a need for the creation of an elite corps of financial fraud investigators?

Mona Giacometti then introduced Daniel Flore. He reacted to what was previously said and further explained that it is now a right time to have an in-depth discussion on the development of substantive criminal law. The other texts that are not per say criminal law, but that have an impact on criminal law should also be scrutinised. There is right now a lack of coherence in criminal law. In that respect, he also took the example of sanctions. He reminded the importance of statistics for modern provisions as statistics are what allow the official bodies to adapt the policies and ensure consistency. There is a lack of good statistics. Daniel Flore further explained that Member States were reluctant to harmonise certain measures which often resulted in bypassing defence rights / protection. Finally, he insisted on the fact that there is a need to efficiently combat organised crime at the EU level.

Last but not least, Vânia Costa Ramos introduced Fabio Giuffrida. He also reacted to what was previously said and further reminded that a new Commission will soon be elected and that whatever he was going to say would not bind the new Commission, but were only his own reflections. Regarding substantive criminal law, he also insisted on the need to harmonise and the need to consider new areas of crime such as crimes related to artificial intelligence (AI) and crimes related to crypto assets. Regarding the field of procedural criminal law, he again said that AI will need to be considered, as well as digitalisation. Regarding agencies and police, he talked about the possibility to extend the competence of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (environmental crime, restrictive measures violation etc.), and he insisted on the need for the different agencies and bodies to work better together. Finally, regarding the international aspects, he reminded the ambition of the European actors to become a global actor in the field of criminal law. There is for instance a prominent role of the EU after the war in Ukraine.

At the end of the panel, there was an actively moderated Q&A session by the co-chairs with contributions from the floor. Among other things, the panelists were asked about what they believed were the top priorities going forward. These three following things were put forward:

• Criminal procedure to correct the imbalance between defence rights and the EU authorities/agencies;
• Transnational organised crime: EPPO / EUROJUST / Transnational criminal proceedings;
• AI and digital evidence.

Panel 2: The challenges of modern practice

Chair: Neil Swift, ECBA Executive Committee, United Kingdom

Panel:

• Louise Hodges, defence lawyer, UK
• Jaanus Tehver, defence lawyer, Estonia
• Jeroen Soeteman, defence lawyer, The Netherlands
• Veronica Spiteri, defence lawyer, Malta

Neil Swift started explaining that rather than talking about law, the panelists will have an in-depth look at the challenges faced by lawyers managing criminal defence practices of different sizes and in different countries, including the specific ones faced by women running a practice. The focus will be on attracting, encouraging, and retaining talent; business development; and whether accommodating the elusive work-life balance is possible. Neil encouraged contributions from the floor, as the aim of the panel was to make interactive.

Each panelist first introduced herself/himself and their practice. They all have different backgrounds. Louise Hodges comes from a large, full service law firm, Jeroen Soeteman comes from a middle size law firm and Veronica Spiteri and Jaanus Tehver come from quite smaller firms in size.

Jaanus Tehver explained that unlike in the UK and in the Netherland, the largest firm in Estonia is less than 100 lawyers. Veronica Spiteri explained that Malta is an even smaller market.

Here are some of the takeaways of this insightful discussion:

• The time you have to devote to management obviously depends on the size of your firm. When you are in a small law firm, you end up doing most of the operational yourself, but it does not take that much of your time as the size of the operations remain small. On the opposite, when you are in a large law firm, you devote a lot of time to management and administration and you have people devoted to the management and administration that have been hired for that specific purpose. Continuous improvement and innovation are important for any size of law firm;
• Regarding pro bono and/or legal aid work: In the UK and in Estonia, there are law firms that mostly only do legal aid work and that really rely on that kind of legal work for their business model. In the Netherlands, it is quite common for law firms to do both legal aid work and private work;
• In Malta, social media is an important tool to find legal work. In general, for all practices, reputation is key. Conflict of interests also generates work. In full service law firms, work circulates a lot internally. As far as outside referrals are concerned, they are more likely to come from people you have worked with. The profile and the branding of the firm can also have an impact. For instance, if you are part of a particular organisation or if you publish a particular article that could of course have an impact on the work that is referred to the firm. At the end, your job and the way you do it is the best advertisement one can have. The responsibility to bring work to the firm starts with the partners, but younger lawyers have of course a role to play.
• The clients nowadays have changed and so has the market. Clients are more demanding, they ask for more, they use more private means of contact at any given time (WhatsApp).
• The global pandemic had an impact on the way the work is performed. Part home office is now globally accepted and the people on the management have now accepted it as well.
  However, everyone agrees that nothing beats in-person interactions. In terms of technology, one of the challenges is that now there are expectations that people are available 24/7;
• Work life balance is a real challenge in a world where you need to be available 24/7. It is something difficult to achieve and also, one has to keep in mind that work life balance means something different for everyone;
• Gender equality and diversity is an important goal for each practice. In Malta, it is a real challenge, especially in the field of criminal law defence since there are very few women active in that field. In UK, things are moving in the right direction, but there are still a lot of biases. In the past, women were not particularly good in helping women and that is changing;
• All panelists agreed that while technology cannot be disregarded, the human should still be at the center of all reflections in the future.

Panel 3: INTERPOL – Perspectives from the CCF, General Secretariat and Practitioners

Chair: Jago Russell, defence lawyer, United Kingdom

Panel:

• Yaron Gottlieb, Head of INTERPOL's Notices and Diffusions Task Force (NDTF)
• Sandra Grossman, defence lawyer, USA
• Raphaël Nicolle, Senior Counsel, CCF Secretariat, Interpol
• Rebecca Niblock, defence lawyer, UK

At the beginning of the discussion, Jago Russell drew everyone's attention to the fact that what was going to be discussed needed to remain in the room in order to allow the panelists to discuss openly. As a result, the report on this topic is very general.

In this panel a focus has been given on INTERPOL alerts, primarily red notices and wanted person diffusions. The discussion looked at pertinent issues pertaining to individual rights, the weight that should be given to red notices in immigration / asylum or removal proceedings, due process, and international cooperation. With speakers from INTERPOL, the panel offered a rare opportunity to learn about INTERPOL's existing policies and practices, and to foster a discussion about common challenges faced by practitioners, emerging trends, and best practices when engaging with INTERPOL.  In general, communication and providing information in a timely manner are key.

General Assembly - ECBA Treasurer – 2023 financial report

At the end of the Conference the ECBA Treasurer presented the 2023 financial report, that shown very good results, the ECBA finances being in a very healthy shape.

Future Conferences

Oliver Kipper, EFCL Chair  and Vincent Asselineau, ECBA Chair, closed the Conference announcing the future events: the EFCL annual Conference in Milan on 14 June 2024 and the ECBA Autumn Conference in Helsinki on 27 and 28 September.

 
Dinner

In the evening the delegates had a tasty traditional dinner at the trendy Alice restaurant and cocktail bar. It offered an additional opportunity for delegates to mingle with old and new friends. Most delegates then enjoyed drinks together until late in the evening, some others until very early the next morning.  

Those who were able to stay until later on Sunday 5 May could attend the Brussels morning sightseeing tour "Art Nouveau in the Squares" and eventually have a good-bye lunch.

Report by Carla Reyes