IBA Conference 2009 report
The IBA Annual Conference in Madrid, open by His Majesty The King of Spain was the biggest yet - with more than 4,800 delegates gathered from 120 countries in Madrid for more than 150 sessions.
Pippa presented 3 half-day sessions and was a panellist on the fouth. Pippa’s first session on “COPACABANA international networking” was exceptionally well attended. Challenging and lively role-plays on following-up new contacts on the telephone, involved lawyers sitting with back-to-back and having some robust conversations. Following that, we practised how to win work in a meeting answering difficult questions such as “Why are your fees so high?”; “Why can’t you do it as cheaply as your competition? They would do it for half-the-price.”
Pippa’s RAINBOW Strategy to keep clients happy was the theme of Pippa’s second three hour session. Commiserations were offered to those lawyers whose clients who woke them in the middle of the night, because the clients did not understand different time zones.
The most important learning from this session was the client relationship with the law firm was like a tree, with roots spreading out through the firm and branches growing and flourishing within the clients’ organisations. The food and water of anticipation; good communication; understanding clients’ needs and agreeing and meeting mutual expectations enables the tree to flourish and grow.
“Giving a Winning Presentation”, Pippa’s third session, included nearly everybody giving a three minute presentation to others in their small teams. Many were filmed and Pippa gave feedback as we played back the film on a large screen so enabling everybody to learn from everybody else.
“Marketing for and to women lawyers”, conducted by the Women Lawyers’ Interest Group, was a thought-provoking and innovative session. The Co-chairs and panellists were top lawyers from all over the world. Every participant left with 2 buddies, with whom they will keep in contact and give mutual support throughout the year. A very stimulating and thoroughly enjoyable session
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The PEP Partnership LLP is owned and managed by Bill and Pippa Blakemore.
Portrait photos taken by Nick Atkins
