ACC Europe: Madrid conference kicks off
“New Beginnings from an inspiring perspective”. This is the title of ACC Europe’s annual conference, which gathers the European members of the Association of Corporate Counsel (the world’s largest international association of corporate lawyers with over 45,000 members in 90 countries) in Madrid today and tomorrow.
The traditional annual meeting, which was interrupted after the last edition in Edinburgh in 2019 due to the pandemic, returns today. Around 400 in-house counsel are expected in the Spanish capital for a two-day debate and networking event.
The aim is to discuss, exchange views and share experiences and ideas in order to shape the future of the profession together. How? Starting from the present. By discussing the most pressing issues for legal counsel, through 22 different working sessions dedicated to the different aspects of the profession, from the most purely legal (in the track indicated by the association as “Lead the Law”), and managerial (“Lead the Business”) to personal growth (“Lead Yourself”). Among the topics, for example, crisis management, ESG, antitrust, whistleblowing, diversity equity & inclusion (DEI), digitalization and legal operations.
The opening plenary, “Embracing new beginnings – Re-inventing in-house counsel profile” will address these very issues and will include speakers Barbara Van Koppen, SVP Corporate Center & General Counsel, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Thomas Meiers, Chief Governance and Legal Officer, Seat And Cupra, John Rigau, Vice President, General Counsel, Pepsico West Europe, Elizabeth Walker General Counsel & Company Secretary, Cancer Research UK and Craig Budner Global Strategic Growth Partner, K&L Gates.
Prior to the ACC Europe conference, Iberian Lawyer, media partner of the event, met Ilse de Loof, chair of the European chapter of the Association to discuss about the future of the profession (download here the magazine here to read the interview).
