- Speaker #0
You're listening to Spotlight Aija, a podcast that shines a light on ideas that matter. Hello, I'm Jonathan Bench, international business attorney and partner at Curtin-McConkie, based in the U.S. in Salt Lake City, Utah. Welcome to the final episode of Season 5 of Spotlight Aija, the podcast series presented by Aija, the International Association of Young Lawyers. This season, we've explored mental health in the legal profession, hearing from guests who shared valuable insights and practical advice to support well-being in our field. In today's episode, we turn our attention to the academic program of the 63rd International Young Lawyers Congress, taking place in Washington, D.C. from August 25th to 30th, 2025. Centered on the theme, Empower Next Gen, meeting young lawyers where they are, the Congress is designed to prepare the next generation of lawyers for a successful, well-rounded career. Let's start by introducing the four academic coordinators for Washington 2025. Joining me from Copenhagen, Denmark, is Timothy Giard. where he specializes in EU and French antitrust laws and online platform regulation. He is a partner at Gates Advocats, headquartered in Paris, and he is also co-chair of the Sponsorship Committee. Timothy, welcome.
- Speaker #1
Hi Jonathan, thank you for having us. Glad to be here.
- Speaker #0
From Amsterdam, Netherlands, we're joined by Friederike Hencke, partner and M&A lawyer at Buren. Friederike is originally from Germany and head of the German desk of Buren, and she used to be president of Aija's skill board, and was also co-chair of IAGE's half-year conference in May 2023 in The Hague. Friederike, welcome to the podcast.
- Speaker #2
Thanks so much.
- Speaker #0
From Vienna, Austria, we welcome Christian Ritschke, M&A partner at Doorda Lawyers. And at IAGE, Christian, you're also co-chair of the Academic Program Committee for the third year now. Welcome.
- Speaker #3
Thank you, Jonathan. Hi.
- Speaker #0
And last but not least, from Sofia, Bulgaria, we have Radina Tomanova, a partner at DPC Law Firm focused on M&A and competition. Within AIDJA, Radina served as the association's Bar Relations Coordinator for two years, prior to undertaking the role of Academic Coordinator for the Washington, D.C. Congress. Greetings, Radina. Hi,
- Speaker #4
Jonathan. Happy to be here.
- Speaker #0
Let's begin with the theme of the Washington Congress. Friederike, the title is Empower Next Gen, Meeting Young Lawyers Where They Are. How did the Academic Coordinators come up with this theme, and what message were you hoping it would send to participants?
- Speaker #2
Yeah, so back in November 2018, 23 when we were at the Aisha half-year conference in Paris we had an extensive brainstorming with our current president Kato Arts. At the heart of her presidency is the empowerment of Aisha's members and this year's congress is therefore dedicated and designed to set a milestone in this respect. The message we are hoping to that it will send to participants is that more than ever younger generations and their values, ambitions. hopes and dreams matter. NextGen should therefore be heard and supported. At the same time, we strongly believe that all generations have lessons to learn from each other. And this is what we want to achieve with this theme.
- Speaker #0
I think many of us are at the point in our careers where we are at least middle level managers. And that is so important that we think about how we are guiding our firms and how we are helping young lawyers find their way at our firms. Rodina, how will the academic program be structured?
- Speaker #4
The academic program will be structured into two tracks, the legal track and the business skills track. The legal track will have 12 sessions compared prepared by all 18 scientific commissions of AISA from MT Trust to Transport and Logistics. The business skills track will include four additional sessions and is entirely focused on business skills for lawyers. from business development through legal submissions and rankings, and up to mechanisms for coping with professional liability and stress.
- Speaker #0
So just like most of the Asia Congresses, there will be way too much content to take in all at once and everyone will have to choose what looks most important to them.
- Speaker #4
Absolutely. But in the afternoon, there will be the business skills track, so everyone can enjoy this and be together in one room.
- Speaker #0
Oh, that's great. Excellent. Christian? IHR comprises 18 scientific commissions. How will the commissions be involved and what will a typical Congress session look like?
- Speaker #3
So the legal track that Raleigh just mentioned is built all around the commissions. They are the main force behind all those sessions. So they have nominated the session coordinators for each such session. And those session coordinators are now the ones who are preparing the sessions together with the speakers, together with us as academic coordinators. How does it look like a session? We strongly highlighted and pushed for having interactive sessions, having not the, let's say, day-to-day panel session as we sometimes see it. We want to have new concepts, engaging concepts with the audience. For example, one of them would be that we have a debate of two, let's say, political parties, which relates to whether home office is good or not and what the advantage is actually of going to the office. We're very much looking forward to this and are excited also for all the other ideas that the panelists and the session coordinators will come up.
- Speaker #0
Excellent. So your marching orders to each of them is we want great content, but we want it to be creatively presented so that everyone will come and enjoy while they're learning at the same time.
- Speaker #3
Absolutely. We want them to be active in listening, contributing to the session as well, and not a passive way of just swallowing it.
- Speaker #0
Excellent. Timothy, can you elaborate a bit more on the tracks? How are these sessions relevant to the young lawyers who will attend the Congress? How are you going to entice them to attend and to stay in the room?
- Speaker #1
Right. Well, as just mentioned, all 18 scientific commissions of Asia are represented in the legal track, meaning that we'll touch on all fields of law represented in our global association. Each session will be a joint session of two commissions exploring topics which are and may even become of greater relevance in the future using an interdisciplinary approach. We trust that we have selected fantastic session coordinators who will create engaging and empowering panels for our international audience.
- Speaker #0
Christian, what does it look like in practice to meet young lawyers where they are?
- Speaker #3
Let's say as a lawyer, like in many other professions, I think you undergo different stages of your career during a lifetime. As a young professional, such as a young lawyer, you have different needs as well as different strength also. and with of ever-changing world we're facing at the moment and i think very fast also changing we want to address these needs and strength to the point right we want to dive into this it's not an easy question but i think the ambition is for our program to presenting to all the participants something where they can take what they can take away with them and grow and succeed in their further career fridrika how will the congress program reflect the idea of empowerment
- Speaker #0
Can you share any examples of any sessions or initiatives that are designed specifically for the next generation of legal professionals?
- Speaker #2
Yeah, sure. As Radina and also Timothée and Christian explained, we have a packed academic program with sessions focusing on current and future topics in the legal profession. And on top of that, we have the business skills track which will help equip the next generation with the necessary tools for the next stages in their their careers. and that is about how to create fostering working environments how to attract business and clients but also how to successfully manage your firm one day for example there will be a session on legal directories and submissions we will have a representative from chambers whom we aim to put to the test with some difficult questions and
- Speaker #0
also honest questions what is actually needed to be ranked will be one of the key questions that's what i need make sure i get the highlights from from that session if I don't get to attend, okay?
- Speaker #2
You will, you will. And another example is a panel discussing the challenges which legal professional faces when things go south, what support they need, what are the lessons learned, and whether there's actually an opportunity in such difficult times.
- Speaker #0
So important. I love the idea of helping each lawyer determine their own track, what that looks like for them, what success looks like, how that's defined for them. It is very empowering. for everyone to understand that they can track their own future. Timothy, what are some concrete ways Asia and its members can continue to empower young lawyers after the Congress?
- Speaker #1
That's a very good question. Well, from my view, the mentorship program that Asia has launched this year is a stepping stone in exchanging ideas and supporting the next generation of legal professionals. If anything, it's that not only the younger colleagues get coached, but also the mentors somehow develop themselves. And I can, you know, speak based on my own. personal experience. That's a great initiative that has a long life ahead and will foster building strong bonds between the generations, I hope.
- Speaker #0
I agree. I've always been so enriched whenever I take the time to sit down with young lawyers and mentor them, asking them what's really important to them. I find that I become a better manager, I become a better lawyer, better listener. Certainly is rewarding to have those experiences, which is sometimes hard to slow down from our normal busy schedules and do that. So I think we just have a couple of questions left for each of you. This one I'm throwing out to you with only a little bit of warning. So looking at the Congress as a whole. What are each of you excited about for the conference? What is the most exciting thing for each of you? I'm going to start with Friederike and then I'll go around the table. Cool.
- Speaker #2
This is really something that you're throwing at us without preparation. Love it. You know, having worked on this for by then almost two years, seeing it all come together. Being there and then seeing how members will react to especially the business skills track, which I'm super, super excited about having been skill president for three years. It's really close to my heart. So I'm really excited about that part, actually.
- Speaker #0
It's lovely. Thank you. Christian, what about you?
- Speaker #3
I've seen lots of seminars. being organized i've been part of this myself this is my first congress actually where i'm part of organizing it and i think it can only be more thrilling once i see the result being in the middle of all of this for one week with so many guests from all over the world i can't wait for that actually for this feeling when this all takes place and um we will have great success and can be very happy with what we've done.
- Speaker #0
Thank you. Radina?
- Speaker #4
Oh, what more can I add? For me, actually, I'm very much excited to be back in the States. I was there in 2011 and it feels like ages ago. So I'm super excited to be there again and actually to have Aja there again. Maybe you know that this is the first time Aja is going back after more than 15 years. So I really hope that we have a big U.S. crowd and everyone understands why this is the best association for young lawyers.
- Speaker #0
Lovely. Timothy?
- Speaker #1
I think I'll try to combine everything that was said before by my co-academic coordinators. I think I'm very excited to be back in the US, to be in DC, especially this year in 2025. We all agree this is a very special time. We're going through some turbulences on a global basis. So I think it will be important for all young lawyers to meet, connect, talk, discuss, exchange views. because at the end of the day, that's what matters, to be able to speak to each other. So very much looking forward to it. Thank you.
- Speaker #0
That's wonderful. And I think for me, I'm amazed at how we've all grown together as friends, the academic committee, the organizing committee. There are, what, 12 or so of us all together. And it's been so much fun, so much work, but also so much fun to dig in. And everyone is... responsible. Everyone is pulling hard in their own areas and really trying to make sure that the Congress comes off as a success. We hit our fundraising goal already, and we're still three months out from the conference. I think that getting together in person again with all of you, where I don't think I've been in a room with the whole group yet, different pieces in different parts of the world. So I'm very excited about getting everyone together again and seeing what everyone looks like. in person instead of through the screen, but certainly spending a week together in DC at this momentous time in the history of the world is, it's unprecedented. It's also challenging. And I'm very glad that we have these deep friendships across our countries to be able to continue to deal with whatever comes our way. So we are unfortunately running out of time. But before we go, instead of the traditional takeaways from the episode, I have one more question for each of you. What does empowerment mean to you in your own career? Let's start with Timothy.
- Speaker #1
Well, I think empowerment to me means having the autonomy, trust and support to make meaningful decisions and being equipped with the resources and confidence to act on them.
- Speaker #0
Thank you. Christian?
- Speaker #3
Empowerment, I think it's you bring the skills, right? But there has also been the circumstances and surroundings and empowerment means you actively let someone grow. based on his or her skills, develop a career and, you know, proceed and be successful.
- Speaker #0
Thank you. Rodina?
- Speaker #4
I think it's hard to put such a broad word into just a couple of words. But if I need to be short, I would say that empowerment is having a trusted mentor, which I'm very lucky to have, and feeling confident that your team has your back, which I'm also very lucky to have.
- Speaker #0
Lovely. Thank you. Friedrika?
- Speaker #2
Yeah, very similar. Empowerment to me is having the freedom and the confidence to build your own practice, your own team and your own career.
- Speaker #0
Thank you. And I think for me, I want to focus on getting young lawyers to a position of absolute trust by getting them comfortable with themselves first. It's very hard. to help young lawyers understand it. I think for me as a young lawyer, it was hard to understand that that was the goal is you need to be known on your team, within your firm, within your organization. People need to know you, they need to trust you. And when they trust you and get to the position of absolute trust, that is when you know you can lean on each other. I think even that is when we can really open up to each other about the things that are going on outside of work life, which often impacts our ability to perform. within our work life so for me it's it's getting them comfortable enough where they feel like they are at the table and everything that they are is going on in their lives everything that thinking about it's all valuable and worth sharing in the context of building this is very strong supportive team now
- Speaker #2
that you're saying that jonathan the trusts aspect actually one of the first aisha events that i attended i think my second or third uh there was a speaker who said what what is the the most important thing that you need from a client. And I don't remember the third and the fourth answer, but the first and the second answer were like someone or trust someone. Well, it all starts with a liking and then comes the trust. And actually one of that speaker, that coach will also be in Washington, D.C. So let's see if younger lawyers can now learn from him.
- Speaker #0
I love it. As we close out this final episode of season five of Spotlight Aija, I want to give a special thank you to the following people. To our director, Nat Simeon, for providing excellent content ideas for each episode and putting up with busy and sometimes cranky lawyers. To our producer, Roberto Raneri, for always making us sound more polished than we are in real life. And finally, to our AIDA president, Kato Aerts, whose thoughtful leadership, big heart, and unbelievable style continue to impress those of us who are lucky enough to call her our friend, which includes everyone she's ever met. You've been listening to Spotlight AIDA. a podcast produced by IEJA for young lawyers across the globe. See you next season.
