Report on the Consulegis Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Spring Conference 2007 in Prague, Czech Republic, 3-7 May 2007

Report

Dear Members:


The Annual General Meeting (AGM) 2007 was a special event in three ways:

1. A new Advisory Board had to be elected according our status. The term of the previous Advisory Council had expired at this event.

2. The meeting site Prague was a unique experience. Prague's historic old-town district is filled with unmatched sightseeing attractions that bear impressive witness to the importance of this city during the Middle Ages. Many participants made the most of the fair weather opportunity to explore Prague's old city on foot.

3. With about 160 participants, this meeting was very well attended.

Martin Klimpl and his crew from the law firm of Becker & Poliakoff, v.o.s., arranged a varied and interesting program, proving us to be exceptionel and outstanding hosts.

It has already become a tradition that early arriving participants meet on Wednesday evening for an informal dinner. This time about 20 people gathered in the „Plzenská“ restaurant. This tavern - designed and decorated in pure art-deco style - is located in the basement of the famous Municipal House, one of the most beautiful examples of Prague's art nouveau architecture.


On Thursday morning (3 May 2007) the marketing steering group (MSG) met for a briefing on the developing status of a new Consulegis website. That afternoon the Advisory Board met for the last time after 4 years working together in its existing composition.

Information on the work of both committees can be found in the MSG report distributed to all members in the meantime and from the Advisory Board minutes also passed out.

In the evening our hosts invited guests to a „welcoming cocktail“ gathering in the very representative „Kaiserstejnsky Palace“. The trip in historic trams was an extraordinary experience for many.

The Annual General Meeting took place on Friday, 4 May 2007, in the Hotel Carlo IV. About 160 people were present. Some 58 member firms from 23 countries were represented.

The still serving chairman Howard Palser greeted our guests Messrs.James Oury, Denis Raingold, and Martin Reid from the law firm of Oury Clark in London as well as attorney Stelio Campanale from the law firm Studio Campanale in Bari, Italy.

The following General Assembly accepted the Annual Report and 2006 Annual Financial Statement unanimously as well as the 2007 Budget. It also approved relieving both the business management as well as the outgoing Advisory Board for their activities during the past year. Horst Becker of Becker and Partners in Hamburg was unanimously reelected auditor.

The highlight of this year's General Assembly was the election of a new Advisory Board.
Ten regular members had to be elected as Advisory Board members, and 13 people made themselves available as candidates. Seven members of the previous Advisory Board sought reelection.

Elected (in alphabetical order) were: Esben Bigaard, Fernando Hernandez Gomez, Michael Newman, Harald Nickel, Pedro Pais de Almeida, Howard Palser, Dr. Henrich Schleifenbaum, Irmtraud Wendland, Jonathan Wood, and Gerd O. Ziegenfeuter. During the following organizational meeting of the new Advisory Board, Gerd. O. Ziegenfeuter was elected chairman and Howard Palser vice chairman. Dr. Henrich Schleifenbaum was elected ombudsman.

Two guest speakers, Dr. Pavel Telicka, former first EU Commissioner of the Czech Republic, and Radek Spicar, managing director of Skoda Automobile, provided interesting insights into local economic issues.

Friday afternoon was devoted to the topic „Examples for successful collaboration between Consulegis firms“. Within the plenary framework, the „business generation“ specialist group (coordinator: Michael Newman) was able to describe seven projects in short reports. These pointed out how the symbiosis of our network permits gaining topics and projects that are normally only reserved for larger and multinational law firms.

The other specialist groups met for an exchange of ideas on Saturday morning. The „international intellectual property, entertainment law, and IT” group (coordinator: Jeffery Daar) decided on publication of an „IP Book“, while the “corporate and tax law“ group (coordinator: Guy Facey) intensified contacts between members of this group. The „litigation and arbitration“ group (coordinator: Dr. Eckart Brödermann) concluded that class action can be extremely attractive for member firms in Consulegis. Dr. Brödermann and Mr. Daar both prepared interesting presentations on class action possibilities in Europe and in the USA.
A new “aerospace” specialist group (coordinator: Andrew Hamilton) decided to check the possibilities of manning a Consulegis stand at one of the international aerospace fairs.
It is extraordinarily interesting to observe how the specialist groups - formerly conceived as mere discussion forums - now tackle and also carry out ever more specific business models and business opportunities.

Another highlight was once again the gala dinner on Saturday evening. Our hosts reserved one of Prague's best restaurants, the Mlynec, directly above the Moldau and located beside the famous bridge, the Karlsbrücke. We were invited afterwards to a neighboring bar, where tequila “à gogo” was offered as a sympathetic reminder of our next meeting site in Mexico!


We thank the hosts - particularly Martin Klimpl and Vladka Sedova - for the outstanding meeting and warm hospitality.

Gerd Ziegenfeuter / Roland Ermini


The Fall Meeting will take place in Guadalajara, Mexico, 18-21 October 2007.