Commonwealth Lawyers Association (CLA)

The CLA regularly organises conferences and meetings and is an accredited CPD provider.

The Commonwealth Law Conference (CLC) is probably the most well known activity of the CLA. The CLC is a prestigious event that brings together legal practitioners from all over the Commonwealth to debate current issues affecting practice and the profession, exchange views and experiences with colleagues and get up to date with the latest commercial products and services.

First held in 1955, the CLC has been organised on a regular basis ever since. It was initially held every five years but, as a result of their success and popularity, this was reduced to every three years. The conference now takes place on a biannual basis.

Previous conferences have been held as follows:

	1955 London, United Kingdom		1960 Ottawa, Canada
	1965 Sydney, Australia		1971 New Delhi, India
	1977 Edinburgh, Scotland		1980 Lagos, Nigeria
	1983 Hong Kong		1986 Ocho Rios, Jamaica
	1990 Auckland, New Zealand		1993 Nicosia, Cyprus
	1996 Vancouver, Canada		1999 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
	2003 Melbourne, Australia		2005 London, United Kingdom
	2007 Nairobi, Kenya

Podcasts of the keynote speeches delivered at previous Commonwealth Law Conferences will be available to download from October 2007.

16th Commonwealth Law Conference – 4th – 8th April 2009 – Hong Kong

The 16th Commonwealth Law Conference will take place in Hong Kong from 4th – 8th April 2009.

For further information, please contact the secretariat or
www.commonwealthlaw2009.org

The CLA will celebrate it’s 25th anniversary in October 2008. A conference to mark this important milestone will be held in Jamaica from 16 – 19 October 2008. Contact the secretariat for further information.

If you have been involved with the CLA over the years, particularly at its inception or attended earlier conferences held in the 1960s and 1970s, we would love to hear from you. Your experiences will be invaluable in informing the preparations for the event.

www.paragon-conventions.com/cla08

The CLA organises a biannual Open Meeting which takes place in London to coincide with the Council meeting. This takes place on a biannual basis in a non-conference year.

Previous meetings:

10th June 2004
The Rt. Hon. Lord Bingham of Cornhill delivered an address on ‘An old constitution in a new world'.

22nd June 2006
Sir Arthur Watts KCMG QC delivered an address on ‘The Commonwealth and International Law'.

All speeches are published in The Commonwealth Lawyer and are available upon request from the secretariat.

The CLA regularly organises workshops and seminars on different issues of relevance and interest to the legal profession in the Commonwealth.

Forthcoming workshops and seminars include:

	18th July 2007 - Sydney, Australia - Law Council of Australia & CLA Justice Gordon Ward will be discussing the recent LAWASIA report on Fiji
	A series of quarterly seminars to be held in London is currently being finalised

Previous workshops and seminars have included:

	Human Rights Defenders in the Commonwealth – What Can be Done?
	Gender & Human Rights Toolkit for Lawyers & the Judiciary - Pacific Region
	HIV/AIDS, Asylum & the Commonwealth

Gala Dinner – British Nigeria Law Forum 17th May 2008

Saturday 17 May 2008, 7pm till late

at:-

The New Connaught Rooms
61-65 Great Queen Street, London WC2B 5DA
Black Tie or Full National Wear

Special Guest of Honour
Mrs Justice Linda Dobbs DBE

Does International Law Mean Business? – International law Association Conference 16th 7 17th May 2008

Friday 16 May 2008 9:30 - 17:30
Saturday 17 May 2008 9:30 - 15:30

at:-

Clifford Chance,
10 Upper Bank Street,
London E14 5JJ

Keynote speakers:
Professor Paul Collier Professor of Economics, Oxford University and bestselling author of The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done About It	Minister Rt. Hon Lord Malloch-Brown Minister for Africa, Asia and the UN at the UK Foreign Office, formerly United Nations Deputy Secretary General
Professor John Ruggie Professor of International Relations, Harvard University (Kennedy School of Government) and Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General on Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises
If you would like to attend, please register as soon as possible by contacting Alison Green at ILAbbconference@cliffordchance.com or on 020 7006 8615 or by visiting www.cliffordchance.com and entering "International Law Association"