AIDA Europe meets in Lisbon

by Chris Rodd – Australian Representative and Executive Member AIDA Presidential Council

The 8th AIDA Europe meeting was in Lisbon on 3-4 October at the Gulbenkian Centre in the heart of the city.

As with other AIDA Europe meetings, it was an excellent program with exceptional speakers and highly relevant topics. The theme was “Landfall of the tech storm”.

Julia Unkel, a PwC German insurance leader, delivered a keynote address on how technology was changing client interactions and insurance services.

The cyber risk landscape – legal risk and coverage issues – was presented by Celzo De Azevedo, a partner at Penningtons Manches Cooper, London; Nelson Ferriera, head of liabilities and financial lines at AIG, in Portugal; and Adam Banas, senior legal officer and expert in cyber solutions with Swiss Re in Zurich.

Other topics included legal skills in the tech age and how do lawyers stay legally fit?

There was an exceptional young academics session in which the four winners of the AIDA Europe Young Authors’ Awards 2019 presented their papers, each of which was about aspects of the European Insurance Distribution Directive.

Several working parties met, including the one I chair, dispute resolution. I was fortunate to have three exceptional speakers who focused on issues associated with arbitration in a post-Brexit environment.

At the conference I met young academics and other young people who want to connect with members of AILA’s Young Professionals group to consider collaborative work. I have raised that with the AILA board YP representative Dan Robinson, of Clyde & Co, to see what collaborative work or networking opportunities may exist for the mutual benefit of emerging industry leaders.

After Lisbon, I visited St Petersburg University Law Faculty where I met the head of the insurance law school and senior lecturers and addressed Masters and PhD students, who also are interested in connecting with their young colleagues in Australia and New Zealand.

For those interested in connecting with YPs in Europe, Russia, the UK, or South America please contact me direct or Dan.

The AIDA Presidential Council and AIDA Europe are examining the possibility of obtaining EU funding for an insurance law intensive in Europe, which may be of interest to many AILA and NZILA members.

I will keep you posted on whether funding is approved for this initiative.

Christian Felderer (left), an awardee and Assoc Prof Pierpaolo Marano.	Delegates at the opening reception.	Awardees with Assoc Prof Marano.

If any AILA or NZILA members are interested in participating in AIDA and, in particular, any of AIDA’s 13 working parties, please email me: chrisjrodd@gmail.com.