I should have published this post early June, a time when IAFL (the acronym for “International Academy of Family Lawyers”) conducted its Asian Pacific Chatper Conference after years of delay because of the pandemic.
When I was admitted to IAFL in July of 2022, I was surprised to know that I was the third family lawyer from China mainland, where there is a total population of 0.65 million lawyers. By contrast, there were more than 30 family lawyers from Hong Kong, a special administered region of China, participating in IAFL Bangkok conference, and 20 something family lawyers from Australia, about a dozen family lawyers from Singapore.
As an Asian Pacific Chatper of IAFL, China mainland is a jurisdiction of AP region that AP Chapter cannot afford to miss or ignore, so there is a strong interest among participants for pertinent knowleddge of family laws in China mainland. Indeed, for almost every session of the IAFL Bangkok conference, China is mentioned by reference or directly involved in discussion.
The only two Fellow Members from China mainland were both given the chance to speak in general family law education program and panel discussion (me) about child abduction enforcement in Asian jurisdictions.
Such face-to-face meeetings are so good for peer lawyers to know and cooperate with each other in their respective family law practice, esp in today’s interwoven world. More importantly, the fact that you see and actually talk with the lawyers you may work with together in the future gives you a lot of confidence and trust in the foreign lawyer and thus a peace of mind in providing services to clients who need cross-border family law advice.
Great events of gathering and socializing with great peers and colleagues from other jurisdictions. Hope to see them more often in the future.
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