News From The IBA

Serving The Business Lawyer Internationally

An interview with J William Rowley QC, Chairman, Section on Business Law, International Bar Association, and Partner, McMillan Bull Casgrain, Toronto.

Question: What path did you follow to become Chairman of the Section on Business Law of the International Bar Association?

Rowley: We have three officers: the Treasurer, Vice-Chairman and the Chairman. Each has a two-year term. We have a nomination committee that selects a Treasurer every two years. That person is then on the officer ladder and, unless something unusual occurs, eventually becomes Chairman. This process helps assure that by the time someone becomes Chairman, he or she is thoroughly familiar with the concerns of the Section. Actually, the training process starts much earlier because the person elected Treasurer has chaired a Section Committee or Regional Group. The Committees are the lifeblood of the Section.

I came up through this process. I joined the IBA in 1980. My background was one of commercial litigation with a focus on antitrust and public policy. I joined the Antitrust and Trade Law Committee of the Section and eventually became Chairman. The Section on Business Law currently operates through about 26 Committees, each focusing on a particular area of the law and includes 100 Subcommittees. They cover such areas as banking, arbitration, ADR, business organisations, antitrust, and many others — constituting virtually every aspect of the law of interest to the lawyer involved in counselling international business clients.

Question: Please describe the membership of the Section, and particularly, the representation of inhouse counsel.

Rowley: We have a special Committee for inhouse counsel. It is called the Corporate Counsel Committee. That Committee is one of our fastest growing Committees. One reason for its popularity is that in most countries, outside North America, inhouse counsel have not been given the same recognition and status as other lawyers and are unable to join with their outside colleagues in local professional associations. This is something they can do by joining the IBA. Recently, in connection with the IBA annual meeting in Barcelona, I hosted a meeting for the heads of a number of national inhouse counsel associations. We invited those associations to treat the annual meeting of the IBA Section on Business Law as a place where they could meet as a group of associations and use our facilities and professional programmes.

Question: I gather that the Section on Business Law plays an important role in the IBA.

Rowley: Absolutely. Of the three Sections making up the IBA, the Section on Business Law is very much the engine and the driver of the association as a whole. The association was formed in 1947 initially as an association of national bar associations. When it started to admit private practitioners as members in their own right it became as infectious as the super flu! It caught on. The IBA now has approximately 18,000 members of which 75% are members of the Section on Business Law.

Question: How would you describe the Section on Business Law now?

Rowley: It provides a worldwide opportunity for business lawyers who counsel international businesses to satisfy their educational needs, to sharpen their skills, to contribute to the development of sound international legal principles and to meet their colleagues throughout the world in an enjoyable and educational context. Our annual meeting attracts about 3,000 attendees. We also have Committee specific conferences and other events throughout the year in a variety of locations.

Meetings of our Committees offer opportunities to meet leading practitioners throughout the world and to learn more about developments affecting specific practice areas. They are particularly important for younger practitioners who can make their mark by writing for our publications or speaking at our conferences. Young lawyers have a unique opportunity to become stars in their fields. We have numerous regional Committee events, along with 25 annual seminar programmes.

Question: Are inhouse counsel involved in your Committees concerned with particular areas of substantive law?

Rowley: Very much so. I do not think that there is one Committee that does not have a healthy representation of corporate counsel. For example, the antitrust Committee, which I chaired, is very popular with inhouse counsel who make up about 25% of the attendees at our programmes. They play an active role in our meetings. During the annual meeting in Barcelona, most of the Committees have at least one inhouse counsel speaking in their programmes.

Question: Do the Committees work on projects designed to improve laws and regulations?

Rowley: Because we are able to draw together so much expertise, we are able to influence the development of the law and legal policy through our reports and suggested drafts of legislation. We provide input designed to promote the convergence and harmonisation of commercial laws that are trans-border in nature. We are starting a capital markets forum focusing on laws affecting financings in multiple jurisdictions. We are looking at the interplay of national legislation governing cross-border mergers and acquisitions in order to suggest ways of reducing duplication and conflicts. I’m working on a deal right now that involves many jurisdictions. This is the kind of issue that we are well equipped to address.

Question: Tell us about your publications.

Rowley: We have just launched our new journal, Business Law International, which will be published three times a year. Sweet & Maxwell/West is a partner in this. It is a very high quality international information source. We cover legal issues that have a worldwide impact. We also publish the International Business Lawyer, which comes out eleven times a year and covers interesting legal issues internationally in a quicker, more summary, fashion. It is circulated free of charge to all members.

Question: What is the best way for corporate counsel to find out more about the activities of the IBA, and more specifically, the Section on Business Law and the Corporate Counsel Committee?

Rowley: By coincidence, our new, fully interactive web site has just become operational. It is an extensive web site and provides a full overview of the work of the Section on Business Law. Rachel Youngman, who is the Deputy Executive Director of the IBA, has been working on it for several months now. The address is www.ibanet.org.