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ECLA General Assembly in Athens

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Stronger under one Umbrella 💪 – The evolution of our profession as in-house counsel was one of the key topics at the General Assembly in Athens 🇬🇷 …

Last Friday, 14 November 2025, ECLA held its 52nd General Assembly at the renowned National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in Greece, following the invitation of our Greek member association – ΈΝΩΣΗ ΕΜΜΙΣΘΩΝ ΔΙΚΗΓΟΡΩΝ (GILA). The representatives of all 24 ECLA member associations 🇪🇺 discussed the current situation of in-house lawyers in Europe and the next milestones of our association in the coming years.

Energetic speeches on the rule of law, professional challenges and opportunities enriched the discussion through our the day, especially by:
Former CCBE President Panagiotis Perakis,
Vice-President of the Athens Bar Association Koutsolampros Andreas, and
President of GILA Georgia Georgiou.

We thank our Greek colleagues for their outstanding “Philoxenia” (Hospitality)! With Stephanie Fougou, Marcus M. Schmitt, Waldemar Koper, Silvia Bonacossa, Laure Lavorel, Mark Cockerill, Richard Bacek, Eric Lennerth, Dr Yannis Tzortzis, Martina Barbarić Baričević, Pieter de Waal Carsten Hornecker, Max Gröning, Víctor Gamero Cabo, Julie Dutordoir, Marie Brejchova, Nicolas Vergne, Ivan Petrushevski, Jonathan Marsh, Tuomas Rytkönen, Ana Cristina Delgado, Andréas Vidmar, Stefanie Thuiner, Róisín Magee, Michael Stanek, Tiina Sepa, Kostas Argyropoulos, Anastasia Petsinari, Olympia Panagiotopoulou, Stathis Mihos, Marten Männis, Tristan Sessoms, Chiara Catti, Barbara Kröner and many more…

The 53rd General Assembly will take place in Warsaw, Poland on 19/20 March 2026. See you there again!

#inhouselegal #generalcounsel #europe

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An Open Letter to a Skeptical Mind

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Open letter to a skeptical mind convinced that a company lawyer cannot be really viewed as independent

“To Whom it may concern:

IF – like in the AM&S and the Akzo Nobel cases – you think that a company lawyer is not able to inherently provide advice with an independent mind

IF you think that a company lawyer can twist or forge his legal advice in order to preserve his or her job

IF you believe that the arm of a company lawyer is easier to twist than any other lawyer’s arm

IF you believe that a company lawyer is hired to close their eyes when they face a violation of the rules

IF you think that a company lawyer, abiding by the rules of its profession could be tempted to be less compliant with its rules of professional conduct and ethics because he works for a company and not a law firm

IF you can convince yourself that any responsible, accountable and serious company client would be willing to remunerate a company lawyer able to advise against his or her firmprofessional conviction

IF you believe that any lawyer’s code of ethics would allowa company lawyer to think dependently

IF you even have the impression that a company lawyer is not a fully-fledged lawyer and could range into a sub-lawyer category

IF you think that a company lawyer is a professional that can afford not to be independent by design and that independency is not a term of art for all lawyers on earth

IF you think that company lawyers’ output does not deserve legal privilege

IF you think that company lawyers are more independent in jurisdictions where they can be part of a bar association or equivalent than the ones working in countries (like France) where they are not allowed to be or remain admitted to the bar

IF you feel that being distant and remote from your client (i.e. in a law firms opposed to a law department) grants the lawyer a supplement of independence

IF you find it nuanced and not over simplistic to think that a law firm is more independent from his clients without whom it could not run a business than a company lawyer is from his only client

IF you really believe that a company lawyer can look at him or herself in the mirror while feeling they cannot advise the company he works for with an objective approach

THEN

Our best prognosis is that it does mean that you have not really been exposed to the reality of what a company lawyer does, it can also mean that you have barely encountered, come close or worked with a company lawyer, and in any event, the quality of the ones you will find within ECLA’s members community.

Download the Company Lawyers: Independent by Design here, to learn more on the Corporate Legal profession, particularly in Europe.

ECLA GCRT in London

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Welcome to London 🇬🇧 – General Counsel Roundtable on the Challenging Corporate and M&A Market in Europe live now…

24 participants from 14 different European 🇪🇺 countries are discussion the latest trends and challenges in corporate mergers & acquisitions in the magnificent Kimpton hotel in London, United Kingdom. The highly active and interesting discussion include topics like:
💡 M&A Power Shift: A Buyer’s Market with Savvy Sellers Fighting Back
💡 Deal Disputes & ESG Litigation: The New Battlefield in M&A
💡 Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD): Compliance & Strategic Impact in the Age of Omnibus
💡 General Counsel & AI: Navigating Risk, Compliance, and Legal Transformation

We would like to thank our great speakers for enriching and structuring the discussion, our participants for traveling to London and our partner CMS Corporate/M&A Group and CMS for their great support.

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STRONGER UNDER ONE UMBRELLA – ECLA met with National Council of the Republic of Poland in Warsaw, Poland 🇵🇱

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📅 On 7 – 8 April, at the invitation of the President Włodzimierz Chróścik, ECLA had the pleasure to meet executive representatives of the Krajowa Izba Radców Prawnych for a fruitful exchange on our profession, including Tomasz Scheffler (Vice-President, KIRP), Alicja Jagielska-Burduk (Chairwoman of the Foreign Committee, KIRP), Magdalena Bartosiewicz (Member of the Human Rights Committee, KIRP) and Przemysław Kamil Rosiak (Chairman of the Polish Delegation to the CCBE), Waldemar Koper (Vice-President, ECLA), Eric Lennerth (Treasurer, ECLA), Marcus M. Schmitt (General Manager, ECLA).
Topics discussed included, among others:

💡 The Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of the Profession of Lawyer
💡 Pending case at the Court of Justice of the European Union on the transposition of the whistleblower directive in Belgium
💡 The protection of the rule of law and the evolution of the lawyers profession in Europe

We thank our hosts for the fantastic meeting in their impressive offices in Warsaw and look forward to extending the cooperation between our two organizations 🇪🇺 .

ECLA KIRP RuleOfLaw CompanyLawyers

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ECLA Workshop: From Generative AI to Agentic AI

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From Generative AI to Agentic AI – focussing on decision-making and autonomous action…Legal problem solving ahead?

Outstanding ECLA workshop on artificial intelligence 🤖 and how it will shape the legal work ⚖️ in the next 6-12 months – Deeper dive into AI challenges, innovations and expected evolution. On 4 April 2025 participants from 20 different 🇪🇺 countries met in the impressive offices of ServiceNow in Dublin, Ireland 🇮🇪, overlooking the Trinity College campus and sharing their experience and visions on the next generation AI for use in legal and beyond.

We thank our speakers 🗣️ for their fantastic input Brian Connolly (Head of Responsible AI @ Accenture, Alex Towers (EMEA Head of Privacy @ Adobe) Emil D. Atanassov (VP, Internationalisation and Globalisation @ ServiceNow), Mark Cockerill (Senior Vice President, Legal – Corporate, M&A and International Development @ ServiceNow).

Quote of the day:
‘What’s your post-AI career?’ 👩‍🎓

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ECLA extend its network to 24 member organisations during General Assembly in Dublin 🇮🇪

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Last Friday, 4 April 2025 ECLA held its 51st General Assembly at the Law Society of Ireland in Dublin with representatives of 25 European 🇪🇺 countries. The member representatives accepted 3 new member organisations to ECLA extending the pan-European network to more than 75 000 in-house counsel. We welcome our three newest members:

📍 The Bar Association of Barcelona – Il·lustre Col·legi de l’Advocacia de Barcelona (ICAB)
📍Corporate Lawyers Association of North Macedonia – Македонска асоцијација на корпоративни правници
📍Association of Company Lawyers of the Slovak Republic – Únia podnikových právnikov SR

Furthermore ECLA re-elected Mark Cockerill, Silvia Bonacossa, Waldemar Koper to serve another term as vice-presidents of the executive board. The General Assembly also welcomes the Hungarian Bar Association as an observer to the association.

We thank our fantastic host the Law Society of Ireland and its president for his welcome speech and hospitality Eamon Harrington as well as Alison Bradshaw, Caroline Dee-Brown and Louise Campbell. Many thanks also to our representatives Pieter de Waal, Claudia Biedermann, Carsten Hornecker, Max Gröning, Víctor Gamero Cabo, Micaela Cattaneo, Heidi Aasheim, Hanne Heide-Krüger, Johan Fagerlund Sjöberg, Julie Dutordoir, Simon Vander Putten, Marie Brejchova, Nicolas Vergne, Špela Ajdišek, Dr Yannis Tzortzis, Ivan Petrushevski, Ana Hadzieva Angelovska, Ana Zakovska, ICC, Tomasz Sztyber, Stephanie Fougou, Laure Lavorel, Richard Bacek, Eric Lennerth, Marcus M. Schmitt, Marten Männis, Chiara Catti, Botond Ungváry, Lucia Čabová, Tuomas Rytkönen, Ana Cristina Delgado and many more…

See you in Madrid on 15/16 September for ECLA’s annual conference – The 42nd Anniversary General Counsel Forum Europe…and stay tuned for more exciting developments…

 

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ECLA commemorates the 25th anniversary of our Belgian member association IBJ-IJE

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For 25 years the Institute represents and protects the interests of the profession in general and of the company lawyer in particular. Through the institute more than 2 400 company lawyers in Belgium have a protected title and their legal advice to their employer is confidential. At IBJ/IJE Belgian company lawyers are subject to their own professional code of ethics, which guarantees their intellectual independence and continued training.

We congratulate for hosting such an outstanding and memorable festivity in the Skyhall of Brussels airport with 800+ registered participants, key-note speeches by the president of IBJ/IJE Nicolas ISTAS, and the minister of justice in Belgium Annelies Verlinden. Congratulations to all the past presidents, managers and supporters of IBJ/IJE for creating such a success story for 25 years: Els Steen, Marc BEYENS, Saskia Mermans, Hugues Delescaille, Pierre Schaubroeck, Jean CATTARUZZA, Pascal de Roeck, Philippe Marchandise, Julie Dutordoir, Simon Vander Putten, Anne De Wolf, Jettie Van Caenegem. With Stephanie Fougou, Mark Cockerill, Silvia Bonacossa, Waldemar Koper, Laure Lavorel, Richard Bacek, Eric Lennerth, Marcus M. Schmitt, Jonathan Marsh, Stéphane BARTHE, Philippe Coen and many more…

We look forward to continuing our great European partnership for further advancing our profession as in-house lawyers.

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PRESS RELEASE: Impartiality of the Legal System Targeted: A Threat to the Rule of Law

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Brussels, 19 March 2025

The European Company Lawyers Association (ECLA), representing the interests of the approx. 160.000 in-house legal professionals across Europe, expresses deep concern over recent executive orders by the current U.S. administration targeting law firms based on their client representations. These actions include the revocation of security clearances and the termination of federal contracts for law firms that represent parties against the government.

Furthermore, ECLA sides with the American Bar Association (ABA) and the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court in criticizing recent efforts to intimidate judges, by calling for the impeachment of judges simply because they do not rule as the government desires.

Law firms, legal professionals and judges play a vital role in ensuring access to justice and upholding the integrity of legal systems. The ability of lawyers to represent clients – regardless of political affiliations – and judges to make rulings based on their oaths to only follow the law, without fear of government retaliation is a cornerstone of democratic societies.

These unprecedented measures against law firms and judges pose a significant threat to the fundamental principles of legal independence, impartiality, public trust, attorney-client privilege, access to justice, the rule of law, and democratic legal systems.

ECLA stands in solidarity with the broader legal community in denouncing any interference that compromises the independence of legal practitioners and therefore infringes the democratic principle of the separation of powers. At a time when the global legal framework faces increasing pressures, it is crucial that we collectively uphold the core values of justice, fairness, and autonomy in jurisprudence. ECLA remains committed to safeguarding these principles and supporting all efforts to preserve the integrity of the legal profession and the rule of law.

For further inquiries, please contact:
Stephanie Fougou (President) / Marcus M. Schmitt (General Manager)
European Company Lawyers Association (ECLA)
www.ecla.eu
info@ecla.eu

To download the press release as a .pdf file, please click here.

ECLA/ICAM – Legal Professional Privilege Workshop

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High-level expert workshop 💡 with colleagues from across Europe 🇪🇺 and the European Commission on the evolution of our profession …

On Friday, 14 March 2025, 40 experts on the legal professions, including in-house lawyers and the European Commission met in Madrid, Spain 🇪🇸 to discuss the latest developments and challenges for attorney-client-confidentiality, professional secrecy and legal professional privilege at large. The focus was on national developments since the well-known Akzo Nobel decision both in Europe and other OECD countries, the currently pending case at the Court of Justice of the European Union on the transposition of the whistleblower directive, and future developments on the legal profession.

Main conclusions and key take-aways:
⚖️ The legal profession must take a more active role in defending professional secrecy and recognizing it as an essential right of citizens
⚖️ The profession evolved significantly since the year 2010 and most probably a decision like the one in the Akzo Nobel case would not be possible today
⚖️ Thus the Akzo Nobel jurisprudence needs to be revisited to reflect the current standards of the in-house legal profession today
⚖️ Today, the majority of Member States of the EU guarantee some sort of confidentiality to in-house counsel
⚖️ Trust is key for a transparent communication between in-house legal departments and the internal client
⚖️ Therefore, confidentiality in the communication with in-house counsel supports effective compliance structures across Europe
⚖️ Terminology upgrade: It is not the legal privilege of the lawyers, it is a privilege of the client and therefore an obligation for the lawyers (There is an obligation arising from the privilege)

The workshop took place in the impressive building of Ilustre Colegio de la Abogacía de Madrid and we thank the colleagues for their outstanding hospitality.

We would like to also thank our keynote speakers: Daniel Calleja Crespo, Stephanie Fougou, Teresa Minguez Diaz, Marcus M. Schmitt as well as our contributors Simon Vander Putten, Jonathan Marsh, Marc Mossé, Stéphane BARTHE, Dr. Timo Hermesmeier, Carlos Menor, Richard Bacek, Víctor Gamero Cabo, Alexis Kendall Aranda and all of our participants. Many thanks also to Julie Dutordoir, Max Gröning, Eric Lennerth, Silvia Bonacossa, Mark Cockerill, Waldemar Koper, Laure Lavorel, Claudia Biedermann, Giuseppe Catalano, Javier Ramirez Iglesias, Giovanni Cerutti, Aldo Scaringella, Marie Brejchova, Philippe Coen and many more.

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