After the launch of the Anglo-Iraqi Law Association, founded to help lawyers make contacts in the war-torn state, Lucy Hickman examines the benefits of bilateral association membership

UK lawyers' links around the world run deep.

Virtually every conceivable country - including the likes of Albania, Armenia, Ghana, Ukraine, China, Brazil, and Argentina - has some sort of bilateral association with a section of the British legal community.

A new Anglo-Iraqi Law Association set up last month is merely the latest in a long line (see [2004] Gazette, 26 February, 6).

Bilateral law associations are voluntary unincorporated organisations.

They are generally open to English and Welsh solicitors and barristers, trainees, law students, sometimes their counterparts in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and the equivalent groups in the partner countries.

Their structures are broadly similar in that the work is co-ordinated by a committee of elected officers and all the associations share the objective of fostering good relations between the legal professions in the UK and those in the partner countries.

They ultimately aim to share expertise and strengthen the rule of law by organising seminars on legal developments in the partner countries, and training programmes and placements for lawyers from the partner countries with UK members to enable them to get first-hand experience of legal practice in specific sectors.

Some of the associations even get involved in the legislative process, with the relevant associations involved in assisting with the drafting of a professional code of conduct and an Advocates Act in the Czech Republic, as well as a code of conduct in Albania.

But as Michael Simmons, chairman of the Society of English and American Lawyers and a partner at London-based Finers Stephens Innocent says, it is not all work, work, work.

'It's meant to be a mixture of education and fun.

I intend to emphasise the fun during my time as chairman,' he says.

'Lawyers work hard but they also need some fun.

Many US lawyers are tied to their desks - too busy recording time - but everybody needs to go to social occasions and unwind sometimes.

[Dame] Elizabeth Butler-Sloss attends some of our functions sometimes but always says she won't come to anything too serious,' he says.

And close relationships are forged through the associations.

For example, the shock of the recent bombing atrocity in Madrid resounded through the entire membership of the British-Spanish Law Association (BSLA).

The BSLA's chairman, Madrid-based lawyer Alberto Prez Cedillo, says that none of his association's members was hurt in the bombing but the shock has hit hard both in Spain and the UK.

'There is a feeling of profound shock, anger and a strong determination to defeat terrorism,' he says.

Most of the lawyers who form and join these associations have a genuine interest in the relevant country or region, and its culture and history - often stemming from family ties.

Andrew Bird, chairman of the British, Brazilian and Portuguese Law Association and principal at London firm AJ Bird & Co, comes from an Anglo-Portuguese family and is eager to forge closer Portuguese ties.

'We haven't done that much with Portugal yet and I'm very keen to do more,' he says.

Mr Bird previously worked at City firm Richards Butler, for which he worked in Brazil for five months.

He says that although there are few similarities between the civil law systems in Brazil and Portugal and the English common law system, the association works well.

'The point of focus is for lawyers with an interest in the law and developments in these countries.

In our seminars, we try to have 20 minutes from an expert from these countries, so you get a comparative perspective.

'If you're a lawyer in the UK who deals with litigation or arbitration in Brazil, for example, the association gives you a chance to be briefed on how things work over there, so that when you're dealing with a Brazilian lawyer on something, you don't have to waste each other's time.'

Of course, through active participation in a 'bilateral', many contacts in the partner country can be made, which often develop into business relations.

Jennifer Jin, an assistant at Clifford Chance and joint chairwoman of the British-Chinese Law Association (BCLA), says: 'We try and get business people along to our events who are interested in legal developments in China.

Through this, links have been forged which can be very beneficial to lawyers.

Some barristers, for example, have been appointed for arbitrations happening in China.'

Mr Bird adds: 'We try to organise events jointly with the Portuguese and Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, so it's not just a bunch of lawyers trying to sell to each other.

Everyone is welcome - it's not a closed shop.'

Mr Cedillo says: 'The association offers fantastic networking opportunities as we hold receptions, cocktail parties, seminars, lectures, Spanish classes, meetings where people can meet.

The best thing about it is the learning, networking and enjoying meeting other lawyers with similar interests in Spain.'

Mr Simmons recalls that there was a time when English lawyers considered his association as a good marketing opportunity to US lawyers.

'But there are now a lot of US lawyers doing English law, so there is less work generated than there used to be - a lot of them are now competitors.'

Ms Jin says some of the founders of her association - who were based in the UK at the time of BCLA's creation in 1999 - have now returned to China, but remain on its committee.

'It's really good because they can organise things from that end,' she explains.

Although these associations are independent of the Law Society and the Bar Council, the Society's international department has been instrumental in encouraging and co-ordinating the creation of many of the associations since the British-German Jurists Association - the first European bilateral law association - was formed in 1972.

Particularly active since the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 have been countries of the former Warsaw Pact.

The first bilateral law association there was the British-Polish Law Association, launched in October 1989, which was quickly followed by a dozen more covering most of central and eastern Europe.

Michael Wood, a partner with London firm Gardner Weller and chairman of the British-Southern Slav States Law Association (which covers Bosnia-Hercegovina, Croatia, Serbia-Montenegro, Macedonia and Slovenia), says: 'The association was founded as the British-Yugoslav Law Association over ten years ago.

For obvious reasons, it has had a difficult time in developing its activities.

'It is now fairly quiet but we can assist people looking for lawyers in the republics of former Yugoslavia and deal with queries from people in the former Yugoslavia.

'At present, our most active relationship is with the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia.'

The initial focus of the associations in this region was very much on economic law, in line with the broad aim to assist central and eastern European countries in adjusting to the rules governing a market economy.

Seminars, attended principally by senior lawyers and government officials, tended to focus on the intricacies of establishing and running a private law firm.

However, a report from the Law Society's international department notes that in recent years the emphasis has shifted to working more with young lawyers, who are the next generation of bar leaders, judges, prosecutors and so on.

Ms Jin says: 'We have a lot of students and academics as members - anyone with an interest in Chinese law really.

Around six or seven judges and a number of lawyers on exchange programmes come over every year from China, and we try to get them involved in our activities so they can establish links on an informal basis and make some friends.

It's beneficial to all.'

Lucy Hickman is a freelance journalist