President's Blog, September 2026
Posted: 8 Sep 2026 by
Hello Friends,
I’m writing this on the plane on my way back from the AGM in Dublin. What makes me the happiest is how much fun so many Fellows told me they had. Thank you so much to JLICS for organizing and executing a well-oiled machine that made a conference of 463 people feel big yet also intimate. I’m thrilled so many Fellows from around the globe were able to attend to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the IAFL’s existence.
Just a few highlights from the week were – the 40th anniversary party at Aviva stadium complete with an Irish band and dancers; a standing room only CLE on relocation; an opening walking tour that got rave reviews; the beautiful and accommodating Intercontinental hotel; the fantastic and thought-provoking CLE on the importance of identity and selfhood to children; raising over $7,000 for the charity we supported, Cooperation Ireland; and having the Guinness Storehouse to ourselves for the President’s dinner.
If you meant to donate to Cooperation Ireland and simply forgot before you left Ireland or weren’t able to come to Ireland but want to participate, please click here to donate. I asked everyone who attended to at least donate what they spent in beer to this worthy cause. Suzanne Todd in her presidential address shared with us that she participated in a Cooperation Ireland cross-cultural exchange as a teenager – just like in the episode of Derry Girls. The organization’s mission is similar to ours – build peace amongst people who live in proximity to one another and give children a chance for self-determination. And if the organization’s purpose isn’t enough to entice you to donate, how about the fact that James Stewart will take the biggest donor to dinner at Soho House in London, and he has a mystery prize for the second and third highest donors?
For those who weren’t able to attend the AGM, it was my pleasure and privilege to announce the awards presented and the award winners: The inaugural winner of the Innovator of the Year award for 2026 was given to Jill Hersh, of San Francisco, CA, for her role in conceiving, planning, and executing our Institute for Further Learning. 
2025-2026 was our first year to offer the Institute and we are running it again this year. If you are unfamiliar with program, please click this link. We also were fortunate to have 3 of the 10 lawyers in the Institute’s first cohort join us at the AGM: Joanna Metaxas of Switzerland, Hui Yee Kee of Malaysia, and Anita Carroll of New York. See photo below with Jill.
The inaugural winner of the Keeper of the Flame award for the 2025-2026 year was given to Corinne Remedios and Caroline McNally (both from Hong Kong, China) for the beautiful 40th anniversary book they created for everyone attending the AGM.
It was truly a product of love, sweat and tears and it’s not only an incredible keepsake from the conference but a wonderful historical record of the last 40 years of the IAFL.
The 12th recipient of the IAFL President’s Award is Professor Jens Scherpe, Associate Fellow, of Denmark. Jens created an opportunity for summer study at his host university, the University of Aalborg, for five Kenyan law students, who participated in the student symposium the IAFL sponsored in Kenya last fall at Riara University. He then went the incredible extra mile of finding the students housing, cooking with them each night, picking up their luggage at the airport, taking them back to the airport to fly home at 5am, and taking them to tourist sites. His slideshow and presentation Friday morning of AGM left not a dry eye in the house. Please click here to read the testimonials of this year’s students who attended the program. The students were only able to participate due to the generosity of the Canadian, European, and US Chapters plus individual donors and Global so that their airfare, housing, food, visas and health insurance could be covered. Jens is willing and eager to run the program again next summer. Please click here if you are willing to make a donation to the 2027 comparative law student program for Kenyan law students. What a great way for all of us to commemorate and celebrate the approval by the Board of Governors of the provisional African Chapter (more on this later).
We were also delighted to have 3 Early Career Award winners with us at the AGM. Please click here to learn about the Early Career Award program. This was our second cohort of winners, and they are all based in Eastern Europe. Ana Radovic from Serbia, and Yaroslav Nakonechnyi, and Kateryna Omelchenko, both of Kiev, Ukraine. It was particularly moving for those who attended the AGM for the European Chapter to hear Yaroslav and Kateryna speak to us about their experience of being young lawyers in Ukraine right now during the war. We are appreciative of the extra effort it took for them to join us in Dublin, and we hope it provided a brief respite.
Thank you to all of the Irish fellows David Bergin SC, Dervla Browne SC, The Hon Ms Justice Nuala Jackson, Ciara Matthews, Paul McCarthy SC, Karen O’Leary, Judge Jennifer O’Brien, Aidan Reynolds SC, Justin Spain, Grahame Toomey, Muriel Wells, Keith Walsh SC who did so much to make us feel welcome in Dublin. The Irish Fellows starred in the promotional video; organized golf, a sea swim, breakfast for the sea swimmers, dinners; and provided invaluable tourist advice. Justin Spain also helped us secure our Audrey DeCroux lecturer, the Irish Minister of Justice, Home Affairs, and Migration, Mr. Jim O’Callaghan. It was a huge honor for our organization to have a Minister of Justice speak to our organization in recognition of our enormous resources as a leading international organization regarding the fair administration of justice in family law. I used to think I was tall until I got photographed next to Mr. O’Callaghan. 
Thank you last but not least to Ms. Justice Nuala Jackson, one of our own Judicial Fellows, for kicking off the CLE on Thursday with her morning keynote address. Her remarks about Danish children taking weekly classes in empathy and the tangible reduction in incidents of bullying has stayed with me.
As promised at AGM, please click here for a copy of the 2026 Annual Impact Report that details all that we accomplished as an organization this year. The report reflects a unified IAFL with each Chapter making tremendous contributions and committees providing substantive content for all of our Fellows. Please also click here for our 2026-2027 list of relationship stewards. This list reflects the organizations with whom we are closely aligned in mission, and IAFL Fellows appointed as relationship stewards for these organization. This will allow those organizations the security of knowing they are contacting the right person when they want to engage with the IAFL and ensure we have the right Fellow with an affiliation with these organizations when we want to approach them. If you are solicited by one of these organizations to sponsor or co-create an event, please direct the organization to the appropriate relationship steward.
The second to last act of the Board of Governors was the approval of the creation of the provisional African Chapter. I said a year ago in Kenya that I hoped during my presidency to be able to utter the words “Welcome Africa” and that dream came true last Saturday. Fellow Juliet Nyambura helped us celebrate by gifting African bracelets for all member of the Board of Governors. Rachael Kelsey is kindly authoring a blog about the history of how the provisional Chapter came to fruition. And because she’ll be too modest to say in her blog – a big part of it was due to Rachel’s efforts!
Congratulations to the Asia Pacific Chapter, 8 years after its inception, for achieving the financial wherewithal to be able to advance their own funds for conference planning instead of having to rely on Global. This puts the Chapter in the same situation as the other Chapters and reflects the growth of the Chapter’s membership and the financial success of their conferences. Way to go Asia Pacific Chapter!
Finally, thank you for allowing me to serve as your President. I value having a life of meaning and purpose and the IAFL has been a major source of my purpose for the last seven years. I am proud of what we have been able to do and the teamwork that came together to accomplish so much. The IAFL is a more professional, dynamic, and active player in international family law than it has ever been and we provide a necessary resource for clients, other organizations, governments, and for ourselves. But now as it should be, it’s time for our next leader. Suzanne Todd is a dynamo, and she will take the organization forward with her characteristic determination, grit, and thoughtfulness.
Warmly, Heather
Heather Q. Hostetter
