Happy New Year from the IAFL President
Posted: 12 Jan 2026 by
Hello Fellows
Happy New Year! I hope everyone had some well-deserved time off.
We have been experimenting this term with other members of the Executive Committee blogging other than me to increase the diversity of voices you hear from. So, please forgive me as this is a bit long in the tooth as I have much to cover since I last blogged.
First and foremost, the Asia Pacific Chapter’s meeting in Hong Kong was triumphant. Kudos and gratitude to the members of the AP Chapter for a wonderful meeting. It started with the Symposium where there were 85 lawyers attending the day long education program and an additional 83 lawyers attending the evening’s happy hour. The meeting for Fellows included everything we could have wanted – a robust education program with an engaging theme (a Chinese wedding), great social events, delicious food, a lovely hotel, and some many thoughtful touches such as Hong Kong Fellows ‘s amazing photo book.
I’m proud to say that the IAFL issued a press release at the conclusion of the meeting in Hong Kong in support of the protection of Fundamental Human Rights for civil partners and LGBTQ Hongkongers and urging the Hong Kong government to introduce legislation for marriage equality for same sex couples. You can read the statement here. This is similar to our public support and advocacy on this issue in Morocco and Kenya following our AGMs in those jurisdictions.
On the 4th and 5th of December, the European Judicial Network in civil and commercial matters convened its meeting on Maintenance in Brussels – bringing together EJN contact points, central authorities, legal practitioners, and observers from across the EU and beyond. IAFL has had observer status at the EJN since December 2023. Thank you to the Immediate Past President of the European Chapter, Sandra Verburgt, and Fellow Johan Sarvik who represented the IAFL at the meeting, delivering a presentation, that detailed our work and mission as well as providing practical insights into the experience of our fellows with the EU Maintenance Regulation. For this purpose, the IAFL conducted a survey among a specific group of European Fellows in several European Chapter jurisdictions. Fellows from 16 European Chapter jurisdictions provided feedback on how the Maintenance Regulation operates in their jurisdiction. This enabled us to share the results with the EJN network.
On 25th to 28th of November, the East African Law Society (“EALS”) held their annual conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to celebrate three decades of promoting the rule of law, regional integration, and the legal profession in East Africa. Thank you to Immediate Past President of the IAFL, Rachael Kelsey, and Fellows Jemma Daly, Zenobia Du Toit, Michael Wells Greco, Barbara Mills KC and Patricia Mundia for representing the IAFL at this conference. Our Fellows were speakers at three of the panel discussions. We were honored to be invited to attend and participate to reciprocate the EALS’s attendance and participate at the IAFL’s annual general meeting in Nairobi.
The HCCH co-hosted the 2nd Forum on DV and 1980 Hague Child Abduction Convention in Brazil on the 27th to 30th of October. This forum was created on the initiative of the Hague Conference to respond to the concerns mainly of women victims of domestic violence who are forced to seek refuge in their country of origin to escape a situation of violence in which they and their children are victims in their country of habitual residence. Thank you to Fellows Alexandre Boiché and Caroline Harnois who were invited to speak and shared the IAFL’s extensive knowledge and experience in family law on these issues regarding enforcement of the Hague Convention, unlawful removal, stronger protection for victims of domestic violence in the countries of habitual residence. Fellows Veronique Chauveau and Daniela Horovitz Lennon also attended per an invitation from HCCH.
In doing so, they commit an unlawful removal, which triggers a return procedure under the Hague Convention.
In the context of the application of this Convention, these women complain that Article 13(b) of the Convention is applied too strictly, preventing them from opposing their return. They consider that the guidelines issued by the Hague Conference on this provision lead to this very strict application and do not take sufficient account of domestic violence.
It was in response to these concerns that the Hague Conference decided to open this forum.
Thank you to Fellow Shabina Begum, a co-chair of the IAFL Forced Marriage committee, who submitted a child and forced marriage report to the UN in Geneva this Fall, which included contributions from several of our Fellows on the Forced Marriage committee, and can be found on the website here.
En route home from Nairobi September, President-elect Suzanne Todd and I went to Mumbai to do a site visit for the AGM 2027. What an amazing three days we had. We rode the train with the Dabbawalas (the lunch tiffin carriers), went to Bollywood, and witnessed the world’s largest outdoor open-air laundry, Dhobi Ghat. Fun photos attached. We were delighted to meet a new Fellow and our only Fellow located in Mumbai, Mrunalini Deshmukh. Mrunalini and all of our Fellows located in India look forward to welcoming IAFL to India again next year.
Thank you most especially to the European Chapter of the IAFL, the USA Chapter of the IAFL, the Canadian Chapter of the IAFL, all the Fellows from Maryland in the United States, and several generous individual Fellows for contributing to funding Kenyan law students to attend a week’s study regarding comparative law in Aalborg, Denmark this summer. I am grateful to our Associate Fellow, Jens Scherpe, for arranging the education to be free of charge and for organizing accommodations and support for the students while in Aalborg. Thank you to our Danish Fellows are also arranging to host the students for dinners and excursions to make them feel welcome. We will be able to fund at least 5 students. These young adults knocked my socks off in Nairobi with their studiousness, intelligence, poise, and dedication to the pursuit of practice in family law. I’m thrilled they will have this opportunity.
A reminder about our new lawyer guest registration policy. Registration for meetings for lawyer guests will only open 3 weeks after the meeting has launched so that in the first instance our Fellows have a chance to register. Secondly, lawyer guests shall not exceed over 10% of the Fellows attending a meeting and spaces are saved in the first three weeks for this 10%. Finally, Fellows may only register one lawyer guest per meeting (but note our Executive Director is always happy to find someone to support attendance if a lawyer guest wants to come who may not know any Fellows or the Fellow they do know isn't attending that meeting). The full policy on registration and meeting attendance is always visible on the events page and can be found here.
Coming up, the USA Chapter is hosting an Introduction to Family Law in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on January 16-17. Thank you to Evan Marks and Sue Moss for putting this together so quickly and recruiting 30 American family law lawyers (and counting) who are interested in learning more about our organization. No small feat for an event in chilly Philadelphia in January!
Our President-elect Designate, Jorge Cestero, deserves kudos for arranging the IAFL to host a series of 3 webinars with AIJUDEFA under the umbrella of “Hot Topics in Inter American Law.” The first webinar will be on 28 January at 1 pm Eastern and is entitled: “Why do we need to “register” this valid marriage? And what the heck is Exquatur? What are the prerequisites to a Latin American divorce?” Thank you to our Fellow Juan Francisco Zarricueta as the organizer of the January webinar with speakers (and Fellows) Gonzalo Gross and Dilia Jorge Mera.
I encourage you to check our website to follow the robust work being done by the committees of the IAFL. Two committees will have an opportunity at each meeting to speak for a few minutes about the work of their committee. We will be hearing from Pensions and Pro Bono Committees in Barcelona. Also, each committee and each Chapter has been asked to put on one webinar this term as part of a 40 years of the IAFL series so keep your eyes out for those and register to attend these amazing educational opportunities.
Registration for Kuala Lumpur in May is open and given the popularity of our meetings, I highly recommend you register soon to secure your spot. After the meetings in Bangkok and Hong Kong, there is no doubt the Asia Pacific Chapter knows how to host a great conference and President of the Asia Pacific Chapter, John Spender, will carry on this tradition.
Registration for the AGM in Dublin in September will go live in March. Fear not, we have the entire hotel at the primary conference hotel blocked for the meeting plus room blocks at two very nearby hotels (one is across the street) to facilitate many Fellows being able to attend. I am thrilled to announce we will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of the IAFL at Aviva Stadium on the 4th of September.
See many of you in Barcelona in 3 ½ weeks. I’m looking forward to it.
Warm wishes,
Heather
