Dr Azeem Ibrahim will outline the emerging post-liberal global order and how to prevent it. He will explore why, in the second decade of the 21st century, the idea of liberal democracy is starkly at risk and how to prepare for the near future. He will also share his observations from advising over half a dozen world leaders on strategy and policy development.

Given the seismic political and economic changes towards the end of 2024, to which jurisdictions are our clients ‘escaping’ to? What trends can we see will continue into 2025, and how can we be better prepared?

We are seeing a decades-long wealth boom, which is now being passed down the generations. The way it is being distributed means that wealth inequalities look set to resonate long into the future. How will this affect business succession - will we find an increase in family fighting? Will we see an increase in demands for family constitutions? How can you most effectively plan ahead for areas of contention?

In this thought-provoking session, we will explore the often-debated question of whether Alternative Dispute Resolution, from mediation to arbitration to family therapy, is a legitimate and effective alternative to traditional litigation or simply a passing trend.

Given the increased global mobility expected in 2025, how is taxation keeping up? In this session, we will deep-dive into comparative tax trends from different jurisdictions.

 The dress code for the Welcome Dinner is cocktail dresses and lounge suits. 

This talk will look at the global economic and regulatory environment that has emerged from a year of elections and political uncertainty in 2024. 2025 is “the year after” – the talk will look at the emerging geopolitical, geoeconomic and regulatory frameworks and unpick the potential that corporates and individuals have for arbitrage in a multi-polar world. It will look at the shifting balance of political and commercial power around the world and discuss how sanctions and financial controls in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine War have separated out the digital financial system into two spheres. The role of the US in this rapidly changing world cannot be overstated and with the US elections behind us, the session will also focus on the climate for sustainability investments and markets, technology and secondary sanctions as the new administration truly gets engaged with the reality of a fragmented world.

In this session we will examine predatory marriages and the impact they have on succession, examining in particular the relative capacity requirements for marriages and wills. We will consider what steps people can take protect a family member from a predatory marriage. Lastly, we will consider what steps somebody can take when a parent has been isolated and whose affections are being (metaphorically) poisoned. It will be interesting to hear from audience members who do not practice English law as to how their jurisdictions deal with these issues.

Are lawyers shoemakers whose children have no shoes?  We advise clients to succession responsibility, but do we take our own advice in our legal practices?  If you introduce your clients to your colleagues, your clients might leave with your colleagues if your colleagues leave.  But if you don’t introduce your clients to your colleagues, your clients might leave as you get older, thinking you don’t have a team behind you.  How can we induce our clients to stay, and how can we induce our bench to stay?

In this session, we will learn about cross-jurisdiction surrogacy issues, the stumbling-blocks we often need to overcome, and how as advisers and planners we can best manage this increasingly popular method of family creation. 
 

Option One - Falconry
Option Two - Whiskey Tasting

The dress code for the Gala Dinner is black tie. 

What is coming down the pipeline? What are the key take-aways we can take forward into 2025? This session will be a chance to reflect on the past year’s developments and chart the year ahead. Together we will define the key strategic objectives to help our members stay ahead of the curve.