Lawyers from more than 100 jurisdictions are expected in Mexico City next month for the 2024 International Bar Association (IBA) annual conference.

Lawyers in private practice, in-house counsel, human-rights advocates, judges, bar leaders and regulators will gather for six days from 15-20 September.

Among the topics to be debated are:

• Rule of law,
• Democracy,
• Human rights,
• Artificial intelligence (AI),
• Climate change,
• International trade,
• environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues, and
• Other contemporary issues confronting the legal profession and societies, against a backdrop of global geopolitical, economic, and technological tensions, challenges, and opportunities.

Ernesto Zedillo (president of Mexico from 1994–2000) will give the keynote address at the opening ceremony on Sunday 15 September.

Dr Zedillo said: “I hope that the impressive gathering of legal professionals and their respective bar associations and societies helps to bring to the forefront not just the discussion of why without effective rule of law a society cannot achieve its full potential but also the way in which such effective rule of law must be accomplished.”

Showcase sessions

Four IBA showcase sessions will hear from:

• Human Rights Institute – femicide, murder and other crimes against women – a social crisis,
• Legal Practice Division – digital assets and the future of financial services, focuses on the rise of the digital economy (including blockchain) significantly transforming global financial markets, traditional trading, investment, payments, borrowing and saving,
• Bar Issues Commission – beneficial ownership, anti-corruption measures to fight money laundering, terrorist financing and other human rights abuses,
• Public and Professional Interest – creating great pro bono programmes providing vital legal assistance to those who cannot afford it and mobilising lawyers who can offer expertise in cases with potential widespread impact to ensure access to justice and the protection of human rights.

There are also 30 sessions devoted to the topic of AI.

At the session ‘A world without lawyers?’ on Tuesday, September 17, IBA President Almudena Arpón de Mendívil Aldama (pictured) and former IBA President David W Rivkin will discuss the findings of the landmark IBA report on the social and economic impact of the legal profession.

Contributors include:

• Lady Helena Kennedy KC, director of the IBA's Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI), and
• Lord Goldsmith KC, former British Attorney General.

The main topic will be the advantages maintaining the rule of law has for society and the economy.