President's Blog, May 2026
Posted: 26 May 2026 by
Hello friends,
As I type this, I’m flying home to Washington, D.C. from the wonderful Asia Pacific Chapter meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Huge kudos to the Asia Pacific Chapter for a great conference. The conference kicked off with a full day Symposium in collaboration with the Malaysian Bar Council. Over 150 family law attorneys registered for the symposium and as one of the last speakers of the day, I was delighted to see so many of the participants still there during the last session. I’m sure robust ending attendance had more to do with the fact that there was a beautiful happy hour on the balcony of the Bar Council’s building. Thank you to Anand Raj, the President of the Malaysian Bar, and Rajashree Suppiah and Kee Hui Yee, the Co-Chairpersons of the Family Law Committee, Malaysian Bar, for their support and promotion of the event. I’m optimistic that we’ll soon have more additions to our fellowship from Malaysia in direct response to Rajashree’s passionate appeal to the room to apply to the IAFL. The photo of the tiger is a picture of the mascot of the Malaysian Bar Council.
What followed the Symposium was a very informative and engaging education program at the conference. Fellows
appreciated the choices of the concurrent sessions. In particular, I would note the welcome remarks by the newly retired chief justice of the Court of Appeal in Malaysia, Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, and the Anne-Marie Hutchinson memorial lecture delivered by Sulema Jahangir. The social excursions to Rumah Sentosa and the Batu Caves were as fun as they were soul uplifting. And the planned evening activities were enjoyed by all, but the impromptu late-night karaoke and foot massages became legendary. 
The Executive Committee members at their meeting in Kuala Lumpur were also fortunate to hear from a speaker regarding the current push and pull of global interconnectedness between nations as a prelude to their discussion regarding IAFL growth. Avril Haines is a former National Intelligence Director and Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency for the United States and the Executive Committee benefitted from a chance to dialogue with her about how the IAFL can model in a grassroots way the best of what is working in international relations.
For those who have not yet registered for the Annual Meeting in Dublin, unfortunately, I have bad news. The meeting has reached capacity at 450 attendees – our biggest conference ever. We are not allowed by the conference site to have any more people in the education room or the events. But if you still want to come, please put yourself on the waitlist as often a few Fellows who planned on attending, must cancel at the last minute. And if you are coming, know we are making plans for a well-oiled machine to enhance everyone’s enjoyment. I’m thrilled so many in membership can participate in this year’s Annual Meeting and over 46 jurisdictions will be represented.
Thank you Anita Vimlati and Ivan Cheong, the co-chairs of the new IAFL Discovery Working Group. Information is key when dealing with complex matrimonial property disputes and high-stakes financial litigation. However, the rules for uncovering and preserving assets vary wildly from one country to the next. Therefore, the IAFL has launched a comprehensive project to support our community by gathering insights from IAFL Fellows globally. Our guide will address the most critical questions regarding:
- Publicly accessible registries for real estate, corporate interests, and bank accounts.
- Pre-litigation discovery and international evidence-taking under the Hague Convention.
- Asset preservation measures, including freezing orders and lis pendens registrations.
- Liability for asset dissipation and the legal consequences of fraudulent transfers.
This database will serve as a vital tool for any practitioner navigating the complexities of international asset tracing. The plan is for this database to be completed by the European Chapter meeting in Vienna in December 2027. If you are contacted by Anita or Ivan to fill in a questionnaire about the discovery procedures in your jurisdiction, please respond so our database can be as comprehensive as possible.
Please click here to see a list of our 40th anniversary webinars scheduled throughout the remainder of the year. Just because you may not be able to attend a meeting this year doesn’t mean we do not have content for you to benefit from. We continue to be mindful of opportunities for engagement in our organization for all our Fellows.
Kudos to the Chapters for each planning and hosting an Introduction to Family Law in their region of the world this year – the US in Philadelphia in January, Canada in Montreal in June, Europe in Tirana in October, and Asia Pacific in the Philippines in October.
We also continue our collaboration with sister organizations by cultivating knowledge and connecting colleagues. We will participate and have speakers at AIJUDEFA’s conference in Panama in June; the 19th World Conference of the International Society of Family Law (ISFL) in Istanbul in September; the Commonwealth Lawyers Association’s African Legal Forum in Kigali in October; the 21st Australian National Family Law Conference in Tasmania in October; and the East African Law Society’s annual meeting in Zanzibar in November. Thank you to the Fellows traveling great distances at their own expense to represent the IAFL at these meetings.
Warmly, Heather
