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Knowledge transfer and networking at the IBA Annual Conference in Vienna:

CMS welcomed over 750 guests at the Spanish Riding School

06/10/2015

The first day of the IBA Annual Conference already offered two special programme highlights: addresses by Fatou Bensouda as well as John Ruggie and Kofi Annan. As far as CMS was concerned, however, these were not the only highlights at the beginning of the IBA week. At the grand CMS reception that was held on the occasion of the IBA Annual Conference already for the third time, more than 750 international guests networked until late at night.

Following the festive opening of the International Bar Association's Annual Conference last Sunday, participants can join over 200 sessions on a wide gamut of practice fields from Monday through Friday. By Monday night, the expert audience had already listened to the eagerly awaited speeches by Fatou Bensouda, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), John Ruggie, former UN Special Representative for Business and Human Rights, and former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Yet many of the leading legal experts who had travelled to Vienna did not retreat to their hotel rooms just yet, as CMS was hosting a reception at the Spanish Riding School.

In his opening speech, CMS chairman Cornelius Brandi stressed the high significance of the IBA: "About 6,000 lawyers have come together for one week to share their knowledge of key topics in all legal fields and to discuss opportunities for our profession to contribute to tackling the most pressing political, economic and social problems of our time - that's truly unique." And the many guests of CMS agreed that, in regard to this contribution, it was important to also participate in the conference's social programme, for instance the reception hosted by CMS.

"Once again, Vienna more than lives up to its good reputation as a conference city", said Peter Huber, managing partner at CMS in Vienna, further pointing out the great potential of the IBA Annual Conference: "Nothing compares to this outstanding opportunity for legal experts to take a close look at current trends in law and legal problems as well as fundamental and human rights issues together with colleagues from all over the world, while at the same time having ample opportunity to network with representatives of international law firms. "CMS Vienna is represented in the IBA host committee through senior partner Johannes Reich-Rohrwig and partner Günther Hanslik. Moreover, 55 partners of CMS are attending the conference.

CMS reception with varied social programme

The more than 750 international guests hosted by CMS were able to enjoy two shows by the famous Lippizaners, the "ballet of the white stallions", in the course of the reception. The Spanish Riding School's lucky horse, Favory Aquilea, a very rare brown Lippizaner, particularly impressed the audience with his stunning performance. The guests of CMS could also join a special tasting session: interested parties sampled a selection of overall ten different Austrian schnapps types, guided by a sommelier specialised in exquisite fruit brandies.

Press photos can be accessed free of charge at http://sites.cms-rrh.com/downloads/events/151005/presse/index.html
(Picture credit: Bianca Hohenauer)

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Peter Huber
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