The International Bar Association By Abdullateef Olasubomi Abdul

Last year, I was privileged to be one of five young Nigerian
lawyers selected and sponsored to Rome, Italy by the International
Bar Association (IBA) to participate in the IBA Young Lawyers’
Training Course as well as the 2018 IBA Conference as recipients of
the IBA Developing Bar Scholarship Award.

Subsequently, I was appointed as Chair of the Regional
Development Subcommittee of the IBA. Since then, a lot of my
Nigerian colleagues have asked me about the IBA, particularly how
to become a member, membership benefits, participation in IBA
conferences and programmes, and how to make the most of IBA
membership. This short article is an attempt to answer most of
these frequently asked questions with the hope that others, far and
wide, may also read, gain insight and benefit from it.

First, what is the IBA? The IBA is the foremost
organisation for the convergence of legal practitioners, bar
associations and law societies globally. The present membership
comprises more than 80,000 individual lawyers and some 190 bar
associations and law societies across 170 countries. In simple
terms, the IBA is the association for lawyers and law associations
the world over.

What are the membership benefits of the IBA? By joining the IBA,
a lawyer becomes part of the leading global network of lawyers.
Indeed, membership of the IBA gives a legal practitioner access to
a huge international network of contacts, a unique learning
opportunity, discounted rates for IBA’s programmes, and the chance
to actively participate in discussion around the development of
international legal practice. The necessity of the access to an
international network of contacts and participation in discussions
on international legal practice is more glaring in our ever
evolving global village. The international network of contacts
improves lawyers’ competence to serve the needs of their clients
and to expand their businesses – locally and internationally.

How does one join the IBA? There are different
membership types, to wit, individual membership, group membership,
corporate membership, Bar Association/Law Society membership, and
student membership. I’ll zero in on individual membership.
Individual Membership of the IBA is open to all members of the
legal profession, including solicitors, barristers, members of the
judiciary, full-time professors and law students. Two types of
individual membership packages are available: Full membership and
General membership. Full membership includes membership of the IBA,
one committee in the Legal Practice Division (LPD), one committee
in the Public and Professional Interest Division (PPID), and one
regional forum. Membership of any additional committees in either
divisions or regional fora can be purchased at £25.00 per committee
or forum. This membership is designed for private practitioners in
international legal practices. General membership includes
membership of the IBA, one committee in the PPID and one regional
forum. Membership of any additional committees in the PPID or
regional forum can be purchased at £25.00 per committee or forum.
Nigeria is one of the countries that enjoy discounted membership
rates. The discounted rates for full membership and general
membership are £162 per year and £87 per year respectively.

This is great! How do I sign up? Go to the IBA website
(ibanet.org), click the membership dropdown, select ‘Join the IBA’,
and thereafter click ‘join online now’. You may also email
member@int-bar.org.

How do I use my membership? This is after you become a member.
At the IBA, member participation is crucial to the continuous
development of the IBA committee community. Member participation is
also important because the more active a committee member is, the
more the member will get out of IBA. Specific membership activities
include writing articles, attending IBA conferences, speaking at
IBA conferences, and getting involved in committee projects. For
instance, there is the UNIDROIT (International Institute for the
Unification of Private Law) project: a number of IBA LPD committees
are involved in updating the UNIDROIT Principles to harmonise
principles of national laws on private law matters. IBA members are
generally advised to contact and keep in touch with their committee
officers and members.

Tell me about the IBA annual conference? IBA hosts about 50
conferences round the year. The ultimate of these is the IBA annual
conference. The IBA annual conference is the largest global
gathering of lawyers and one of the largest annual professional
gatherings in the world. This year’s annual conference is scheduled
to take place in Seoul, South Korea. The annual conference
represents a great networking, business development and knowledge
acquisition event.

How can I attend the conference? The regular route is to book
and register online on the IBA’s website. There are early bird
rates up till 5 July for this year’s conference. The conference
rates are quite pricy. The good news is that the IBA awards
(limited) scholarships to young lawyers who wish to participate at
the Annual Conference, but may find it financially difficult to do
so. The scholarship award includes waived registration, free
accommodation for the conference, and airfare. The scholarship is
also a membership route as it includes two year free membership of
the IBA. Applicants are usually required to submit an essay on a
topic to be considered for the scholarship award. The 2019
conference scholarships are now open. All but one of them closes on
21 April 2019.

For more information about the IBA and the 2019 conference
scholarships, you may visit and navigate the IBA website at
ibanet.org.

Abdullateef is the National Representative for Nigeria (IBA
Young Lawyers’ Committee), He may be reached at
abdullateef.abdul999@gmail.com