The Gazette 1975

International Bar Association: Progress Report 7

(1) Membership The membership of the Association has risen to 73 Bar Associations and Law Societies from 53 countries and there are over 3150 individual lawyers who are patrons or subscribers. (2) Individual membership Following on the successful establishment of the Sec- tion on Business Law, the Association has set up a second Section on General Practice with thirteen Committees covering non-business law subjects such as, among others, Real Property, Wills, Administration of Foreign Estates, Trusts, Planning, Family Law, Crim- inal Law, Legal Education, Organisation of the Profes- sion, Law Office Management, Corporate Law Depart- ments and Civil Procedures. The Council has subsequently appointed a Committee to report upon ways of increasing the participation of individual lawyers in the activities and governance of the Association. (3) The Fifteenth I.B.A. Conference The biennial conference was held in Vancouver, British Columbia, from July 29 to August 2, 1974. Over 1,300 conferees and guests attended. Nearly 100 meetings were held. The full and successful social and ladies programmes were helped by outstanding Cana- dian hospitality and glorious summer weather. The November 1974 issue of the International Bar Journal is devoted to recording the conference pro- ceedings. (4) Sixteenth I.B.A. Conference Preliminary arrangements have been made for the next biennial conference to be held in Stockholm, in Sweden, from August 16 to 21, 1976. Details of the programmes will be published 1 in the International Bar Journal for November 1975. (5) Council meetings The Council of the IBA met during the year in Cyprus in April and twice in Vancouver on July 28 and August 2. The next meeting has been fixed to be held in Nairobi, Kenya, on May 23 and 24, 1975. (6) Section on Business Law All twenty committees of the Section on Business Law have been actively engaged during the year and all except one met in Vancouver. Arrangements have been made for a meeting of the Section Council and Committee Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen to meet in Vienna in April 1975 and for a Section Conference to This Section was set up during the year, its formation meeting being held in Vancouver in July 1974. The officers and members of its Council have been appointed and steps are being taken to appoint the chairmen of its committees and to recruit support for it. (8) Standing Committees of the Association (a) A new Committee on Seminars has been appointed be held in Paris in October 1975. (7) Section on General Planning

to give effect to a decision of the Council to hold a series to provide for continuing legal education to be given by experts in their respective fields on subjects which are so specialised or patently of an international rather than national character that it is unlikely that national Bar Associations would include them in their programmes of continuing legal education. The Com- mittee has decided that the first seminar on "World Energy Laws" will be held in Stavanger, Norway, from May 5 to 8, 1975. Leading experts have been found to talk on the laws regulating the exploration, production and utilisation of atomic energy, electricity, petroleum and gas, coal and miscellaneous energies such as water, wind and solar. National and international laws apply- ing to these energies will be discussed as also the legal problems that have arisen or may arise in these fields. Details of the Seminar may be obtained from the office of the Director-General. (b) The Professional Ethics Committee discussed in Vancouver a final draft of proposed amendments to the International Code of Legal Ethics, first published by the Association seventeen years ago. The revisions to the Code will be submitted to the Council at their meeting in May 1975. (c) The Chairmanof the United Nations Affairs Com- mittee attended the United Nations World Population Conference in Bucharest in August 1974. After discus- sion at a meeting of the Joint Committee of the Associ- ation and the Union Internationale des Avocats, a Joint Committee has been set up to submit a report to the United Nations on World Population Year 1974, and a similar committee will report to the UN on UN Women's Year 1975. (d) The newly-formed Ombudsman Committee is making substantial progress in arousing the interest of Ombudsmen in its efforts to coordinate their activities throughout the world. The response has been such that plans are under consideration to convene an Ombuds- man Conference during the IBA Conference in 1976 in Stockholm, the birthplace of the office of Ombudsman. (e) The Practice of the Law by Non-Lawyers. It was decided in Vancouver to disband this committee and to refer the study of this subject to a Joint Com- mittee with the Union Internationale des Avocats. (9) International Powers of Attorney A draft treaty to provide for a standard form of Power of Attorney to be used abroad internationally, prepared by a Special Committee of the I.B.A., was finally approved for submission to the United Nations Organisation. (10) Joint Committees The subjects of the Right of Establishment Abroad and Legal Education and Continuing Legal Education, both of which were discussed at Vancouver are to be referred to joint committees of the IBA and UIA. (11) Publications The Association has continued to publish bi-annually in May and November the International Bar Journal and quarterly in January, April, July and October the (continued on p. 289)

. 2 8 3