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ARTICLE, Reprinted with kind permission by German World Magazine, Los Angeles

 

 

Report

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This year's Consulegis Autumn Conference led us for the first time to the west coast of the USA, to Santa Monica in California. For most participants this meant a long journey, but despite the time and cost, a total of approximately 100 persons made the effort to come to Santa Monica, the Europeans being again the strongest faction (48 participants), followed by North America with 31 , Latin America with 15, and 4 participants from Asia. A total of 42 member firms were represented.

The hosts, Daar & Newman, a firm resident in Los Angeles, took great pains to offer delegates a carefully planned and well executed conference. The Hotel (Loew's Santa Monica Beach Hotel) as well as all events were well chosen, and participants enjoyed some interesting
and thought provoking conference with time out also for leisur and relaxation. A mild complaint has to go to the weather God, who surprised guests and hosts alike with cloudy and sometimes rainy days.

The conference started on the evening of Thursday October 20, with the traditional get together cocktail offered by the host, this time in the Loew's Santa Monica Hotel. Tequila “à discrétion” and a lively Mariachi band soon created a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.

Howard Palser, our chairman opened the conference at 8.30 a.m. on Friday October 21. He welcomed two newly accepted firms. These were:
- Morvilliers Sentenac Avocats in Toulouse (France), as well as
- Thomas Graham, Solicitors in Cardiff, a firm to which Howard Palser is a consultant.

Dr. Roland Ermini, Managing Director, then informed the audience of the most important decisions taken by the Board during the year. These were:

1. the signing of service contracts with a marketing specialist in London and a press agent in Germany;
2. the realisation of the Dr. Thomas Marx Award;
3. the creation of a Consulegis subgroup Latin America, called CALC (Consulegis America Latina Chapter);
4. the creation of a Willis project group, for coordinating all insurance projects with Willis.

Dr. R. Ermini then presented the preliminary budget for 2006, according to which total income and expenses will be 293'000 Euro (based on a total of 91 members).
The most important expense items will be (all figures in 1'000 Euro): personnel 108 (plus 2), marketing 70 (no change), and two international conferences 35 (no change). Profits will be slightly negative (-3).
The audience was informed that in view of the stagnant membership development the Board had decided that special efforts should be made to find new members during 2006. The Budget 2006 should reflect this effort and has to be adapted accordingly.

No questions were asked, and Mrs. Lúcia Hollanda from Brandi in Rio de Janeiro took the floor to report on the status of the project CALC (Consulegis America Latina Chapter) the creation of which had been decided during the AGM 2006 in Budapest. The goal of this chapter or subgroup is to create better cohesion between Consulegis members in Latin America and to create incentives for a closer collaboration between these firms and with the rest of Consulegis. The group presented a comprehensive summary of legal systems in Argentina, Brasil, Mexico and Paraguay (*). They plan to extend this work to the other
“Consulegis-countries” in America Latina. CALC will also extend its activities into Europe and North America, thus promoting their members outside of America Latina as well.

(*) See CD-ROM “Consulegis- CALC, Doing Business (Legal Framework) in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Paraguay”. This CD-ROM can be ordered, free of charge, from the Consulegis secretariat in Zürich.

Before the coffee break Jonathan Wood, a member of the Board and Marketing Coordinator informed the audience of the status of QBO Bell Pottinger's work in promoting Consulegis to the international media and, with the help of a German specialist, Dr. Jens Heise, in Germany.QBO Bell Pottinger published their first Consulegis newsletter just in time for the LA Conference. The next edition is due in February/March 2006.

After the coffee break the Chairman together with the creator of the award, Dr. Pedro Pais de Almeida (Lisbon/Portugal), introduced Dr. Csaba SÁRI from our member firm Balázs & Holló in Budapest/Hungary as the winner of the Dr. Thomas Marx Award 2005. The election committee had to judge two entries and decided unanimously in favour of Dr. Sári who wrote a paper entitled: “EU-Legislation on Consumer Protection re: sale of consumer goods and associated guarantees”. Dr. Sári was invited by Consulegis to Los Angeles with all expenses paid, and was offered a prize cheque of Euro 2'500.- by our Chairman.
The next Award will be presented in Baden-Baden /Germany on October 13, 2006.

Guy Facey from KSB London has excellent contacts in the emerging country of China and presented a short but impressive list of do's and don't's for members when dealing with Chinese partners. In the ensuing lively discussion he and Michael Lintern-Smith from Hongkong revealed valuable information on China.

 

In the afternoon of Friday October 21 our traditional Specialist Groups met in four different groups. Their reports will be distributed as soon as they are available.

The evening program took the participants to a tram tour of the Universal Studios's back lot in Hollywood, followed by an animated dinner in their conference hall. A startlingly realistic Marilyn Monroe look-a-like had the men holding in their stomachs much to the amusement of the ladies present.

Between the Friday and Saturday sessions a group of members headed by Mr Harald Nickel and Dr. Eckart Brödermann brought forward a strong resolution that they wished the assembly to debate. This had arisen further to a request by Jonathan Wood the Marketing Co-ordinator for stories that could be used by our P.R. consultants in promoting the name and brand of Consulegis. Robert Amsterdam who is well-known to members as one of the longest serving members and one of our more outspoken characters, revealed that he had been expelled from Russia whilst engaged in the high profile trial of Mikhail Khordokovsky (Yukos Oil). The group was outraged at Mr Amsterdam's treatment and its relevance to the freedom of lawyers to act in their client's interests free from pressure and intimidation by authorities. Representatives of the group met the Advisory Board in emergency session early on Saturday morning when it was agreed that the matter should be placed before the plenary assembly. This led to an extremely animated


The Chairman of the Board closed the conference around 10 a.m.