IAFL Webinars

Professor Dr. Ian Sumner (Professor of Law at Tilburg University, Netherlands) is well known to many fellows, from his previous participation in IAFL meetings, as a very engaging speaker. To celebrate the IAFL's 40th anniversary, he will give a 50 minute lecture on the immense social changes which have accompanied European family law developments over the last forty years.

While EU law, and particularly its family law regulations, has made living, working and relationships across borders easier, immense social developments have taken place across the European landscape. The trends have a huge impact on the actual type of family law cases lawyers do, but have also impacted the issues and client approaches they encounter in daily practice. Professor Sumner will discuss areas including unmarried cohabitation, artificial insemination technology, other medical advancements in the field of conception, the ageing population, increased focus on individuality in relationship form and same/sex rights and so on. All these trends will be brought together from a wider policy-based perspective. The seminar aims to encourage participants to think outside the box and look towards the future with new insights and perspectives.