On a not so sunny day at the back end of September in a country far, far away, for most delegates at least, the ECBA held its Autumn Conference 2024, benefiting from the support of the Finnish Bar Association.

The organising committee managed to fulfil expectations and even exceed them, continuing a trend of raising the bar every time again. The Friday evening reception welcomed the delegates at the iconic XIX century Old Student’s House/ Vanha Ylioppilastalo, showing one of the first reasons why it was a great idea to travel to Helsinki for a conference.

Since the ECBA is not a tour operator but an organisation of outstanding professionals, the speakers on Saturday had the difficult task to match the beauty of the city with intellectually qualitative contributions. And did they succeed as well!

Our Chairperson Vincent Asselineau addressed a powerful opening speech, which was also his last as Chairperson, since he is passing the torch after having managed the position for six years, which he did with style and grace. He used his goodbye speech to honour our beautiful profession and thank all those who contribute to make a lawyer’s (professional) life possible.

He briefly referred to the difficult position many of our colleagues are in who are less fortunate and find themselves prosecuted and incarcerated just because they do their jobs. He herewith opened the floor for Alexis Anagnostakis from the ECBA Human Rights Committee, who announced the recipients of the Scott Crosby Human Rights Award: three Belarusian lawyers who are in prison for more than a year purely because they fight for their clients and to have the rule of law applied in their country. Their names should be mentioned and remembered as an example of bravery: Vitaly Brahinets, Aliaksandr Danilevich and Maxim Znak, all sentenced to 6 to 10 years in prison for no valid reason other than doing their jobs as a lawyer.

Iryna Kozikava accepted the award on behalf of her brother and rightfully received a standing ovation from the delegates, an ECBA record of 145 participants. She delivered an acceptance speech which silenced the crowd because most of the public can’t even imagine the struggle for lawyers in Belarus, who nevertheless persist and fight for their clients, risking their freedom but meanwhile making us proud.

Although it is not easy to follow after such powerful and emotional speeches, the first panel maintained the high quality and discussed the work of the Committee of Experts on the Protection of Lawyers (CJ-AV) and the European Convention on the Legal Profession that resulted from it. Via video connection the Secretary General or the Convention and head of the Legal Co-operation Unit, Sophio Gelashvili, explained the work done, followed by Vasvija Vidovic, defense lawyer from Bosnia and Herzegovina, who not only spoke about the protection of lawyers but also testified on her personal prosecution, herewith demonstrating once more the challenging times for lawyers in several European countries. Nathan Roosbeek from the CCBE explained carefully why there is a need of such Convention. Valérie Dupong, Luxembourg representative at CJ-AV, closed the panel reporting on some shocking cases of violence against lawyers that one can only become both furious and terrified about.

After a much-needed coffee break to exchange views on the topics of the first panel, the audience was thrilled to follow the second panel about Business & Human Rights. Since companies are getting exposed to litigation increasingly resulting from their business activities, legal assistance from (criminal) lawyers is becoming more of a necessity, or is it just a marketing tool to sell legal fees?

Salomé Lemasson chaired the panel that was able to get the views of legal professionals with different backgrounds. Two defence lawyers, Vladimir Hrle and Sylvain Savolainen, expressed their opinion on the topic, reporting on cases they handled in their practice, herewith testifying that Business & Human Rights is a reality now and not some distant future. Sonia Finér from NGO Finnwatch and Juho Saloranta, sustainability lawyer, shared their interesting takes on the matter from their experiences.

Those two panels contained enough information to take in before lunch and obviously people couldn’t withhold themselves from continuing the lively discussions during the lunch break.

After a fine meal the delegates were ready for the third and final panel, addressing another extremely sensitive topic that can’t ever get enough airtime and attention, the ongoing Rule of Law crisis in Hungary. Dr. Péter Bárándy, former Minister of Justice, Prof. Petra Bard and judge Tamás Matusik shared personal experiences and detailed information on why Hungary is going through said crisis, again silencing the audience and leaving them wondering what can be done to help the system structurally improve once and for all, leading to a proper application of the rule of law and the assurance that people will get a fair trial at any time, regardless of their background and means.

A lot of work needs to be done as was shown during the presentations of our Hungarian colleagues, and one can only hope that the continuous efforts of lawyers from within the Hungarian system as well as abroad result in change for the better as soon as possible.

The Conference was closed with the elections of the members of the Executive Committee and Advisory Board for a term of three years. Old faces are mixed with newcomers that will inject energy to the Advisory Board to lift the ECBA to new heights in the years to follow, undoubtedly. We congratulate Vania Costa Ramos, a longstanding member of the ECBA and the Advisory Board and ExeCom and contributor to many great projects, on being elected as Chairperson.

She will get the support of the ExeCom and Board, with new additions to the ExeCom Gwen Jansen-de Wolf (Vice Chair) and Arturas Gutauskas (Secretary), and to the Advisory Board Stefan Hyman, David Apelbaum, María Barbancho Saborit, Nicola Canestrini, Katarzyna Dabrowska, Edward Grange, Salomé Lemasson, Andreas Pollak, Adrian Sandru and Sören Schomburg.

After many years in the ExeCom and the Advisory Board, our Chair Vincent Asselineau and Secretary Hans Van de Wal resigned, as did Board member Jaime Campaner Muñoz. A warm thank you to them for their efforts over the years to help the ECBA grow to what it has become is appropriate.

Hard work needs to be followed by a decent meal, which is exactly what we had at restaurant Pörssitalo/Stock Exchange building. After the success of the recent Berlin, Warsaw and Brussels conferences that saw the party continue at the restaurant venue, this new tradition was fully honoured in Helsinki, where delegates got the chance to stretch their legs and show off their dance moves at the restaurant venue at the ECBA afterparty, legendary as always. Details are not to be written in a conference report, because a true gentleman never tells… (Hans Van de Wal, Belgium)