North America

North American Meeting 2024 Stockholm, Sweden

Registration is now open for the 2024 North American Meeting, which will be held in Stockholm.

Judicial Guests

We are fortunate to be joined by both The Lady Chief Justice, Baroness Sue Carr, DBE, PC, and The Hon. Mr Justice Foxton, the Judge in Charge of the Commercial Court, as our Judicial Guests.

Juniors Barristers are Welcomed

Attendance by Junior Barristers is strongly encouraged.  A new lower rate for “junior” Junior barristers of £200 for those under 4 years call has been introduced this year. Those under 7 years are encouraged to investigate the Young Barristers’ Committees’ International Grant Programme, which offers to pay two thirds of Juniors’ total attendance costs.

Conference Programme

The meeting will be primary held at the Hotel At Six, a modern, stylish hotel set in the centre of Stockholm save for the Friday morning session which will take place at the nearby Nordic Light Hotel.  Although it is only a 10 min walk between venues, free transport will be provided by the Hotel At Six to take guests from At Six to the Nordic, and back again.

The conference will begin with a welcome reception on Wednesday 29th May 2024 that will be held at the Nest rooftop bar and spa.  Members’ families / children are warmly welcomed.

The panel sessions will run over the Thursday and Friday in the Hotels’ conference facilities. Both conference venues have been exclusively hired for each day.  After the success of the breakfasts at the conference in Boston in May 2023, welcome breakfasts will be held at the At Six Hotel on the Thursday and the Nordic on the Friday to start the conference day.

The Thursday evening cocktail reception will be held in the spectacular Vasa Museum and will include a tour of the 17th century Swedish warship, for those that wish to.  The events will culminate with a gala dinner on the evening of Friday 31st May 2024 that will be held in the Golden Hall of Stockholm City Hall, (Golden Hall  – Wikipedia), a beautiful historic venue which lives up to its name.

Families are Warmly Welcomed

Members are encouraged to bring their families and a walking tour has been arranged for those family members who want to see a little of Stockholm on the Thursday.  The tour will culminate with a lunch in the old town after taking in many of the main sites.  Details of how to book family members to the tour will be circulated closer to the event.

For those members with young families, babysitting facilities are available through Hotel At Six, by private arrangement, at a reasonable hourly rate. Please email info@hotelatsix.com directly to make arrangements.

Hotel Room Booking – Please book now to secure good rates and free cancellation.

We always try to secure a favourable rate with the conference hotel direct so that members can take advantage of a good rate.  However, currently the hotel is offering very favourable room rates when booking direct.  While we can’t guarantee that these rates will not increase as availability decreases, we can highlight the very favourable policy which allows guests to cancel without any charge up to 24 hours before the date of check-in.  We would therefore encourage you to book rooms with the hotel now to take advantage of both the current excellent rates and the favourable cancellation policy, even if you are not yet sure whether you can attend the conference.   Rooms in Hotel At Six can be booked here.

Registration

Registration is now open. We have managed to keep fees lower than the 2023 North American meeting in Boston.  We have also introduced a new lower rate for “junior” Junior barristers.

We look forward to seeing you and your families in Stockholm.  If you have any questions, please email me through admin@combar.com

Combined North American and Offshore Meeting 2023, Boston, USA

The successful meeting took place in Boston from the 31st May to the 2nd June.  It is hoped that the presentations will be distributed to the participants in due course. The registration link is now closed.

The meeting began with a welcome reception on the evening of Wednesday 31 May 2023 in the Wyeth Room of the Langham Hotel, a cocktail reception was held at the Boston College Club overlooking the city with river views on the Thursday evening and the conference finished with a gala dinner held at the Moakley Federal Courthouse on Friday 2 June 2023.  The conference itself was hosted at The Langham Hotel, a beautiful venue located in the heart of downtown Boston, and was accompanied by a variety of cultural and social events for members, their partners and families. The programme may be found here.

The North American meetings are always valuable and hugely enjoyable occasions. The meeting is attended by COMBAR barrister members of all seniorities, as well as senior litigators from leading US, Canadian an Mexican firms, and it provides an unrivalled opportunity for people to meet and discuss matters in convivial and relaxed surroundings. This year, our guest of honour was Mr Justice Foxton, the Judge in Charge of the Commercial Court. Boston provided the perfect location for our first event in North America since 2019, and we were particularly excited to welcome colleagues practising in offshore jurisdictions who brought an even broader international perspective to the sessions. 

 

North American Meeting 2022, Florence, Italy

The North American Meeting in Florence on 2 and 3 June was a great success. Having waited two years for the Meeting to finally take place, Combar members and our Honorary Overseas members were able to make up for lost time and enjoy lively and interesting discussion. The programme line up worked well with a good balance of substantive, comparative, procedural and acquired wisdom. The St Regis Hotel was a perfect venue for the conference, with its high ceilings and beautiful decorations and delegates did not feel trapped by the windowless rooms that are the usual custom for conference venues. The al fresco social events were lovely too and we were blessed with sunshine and warm weather throughout our time in Florence. Special thanks to all our panel speakers and to Jim Drake QC for inviting delegates to visit his vineyard at the weekend. I’m told business was brisk!