MINUTES of the GENERAL MEETING

held on 18 and 19 May 2001, Vienna, Austria

Present: See annexed participant list

Apologies: Michael Dance (Eng), Andrew Priestley (AUS), Greg McInnes (AUS), Luc Misson (B), Peter Hofbeck (D), Viggo von Wietersheim (D), Christoph Joller (CH), Luis Paolo Relogio (P), Steve Cotton (Sco), Hajo Duken (D)

Appendix: Participant List, Working Groups Follow Up Reports

1. John Clarke was in the chair.

2. The Minutes of 3rd/4th November 2000 General Meeting were approved. There were no matters arising not otherwise on the Agenda.

3. Introduction

John Clarke opened the Meeting and welcomed the members and guests present (from Brussels, from the Bridge Group and – tomorrow – from Italy). He thanked Wolfgang Schubert and his colleagues, on behalf of the Members and the Board, for the effort and the organisational work that went into the Vienna General Meeting programme up until the very last minute.

The Chairman reminded all those present that Avrio Advocati remained a bi-lingual organisation, It had always been the case that those present could speak either in English or in French. While English had dominated of late, French was not excluded!

The Chairman stressed the importance of Member Firms working together and exchanging information. The agenda of this meeting was designed to encourage those aims.

Central to this was the newly created position of the Secretary General position at the Contact Office, London. Catherine Pinnekamp was present at her first General Meeting, and while she had contacted many Members before the meeting, for some this was the first chance to meet Catherine personally. John Clarke stressed that the Secretary General was a resource of the organisation, and the Members should use that resource.

As a final introductory remark, John Clarke referred to the proposal to “convert” the EEIG into an “association international sans but lucratif”. Johan Vanden Eynde would address the meeting on this topic on 19 May.

4. Working Groups

The theme of the Working Groups section of the General Meeting was “making the working groups work”.

Session I of the Working Group part of the Meeting took the form of a ‘shopping mall’. This allowed members to ‘sit in’  informative discussions of one (or more) Working Group of their choice. This gave everybody an idea of the Working Groups’ activities so far as well as providing a dynamic approach for ideas and objectives and a boost for the ‘newly set up’ Working Groups.

After the coffee break, in Session II, the Working Groups continued their work, but this time in a more structured fashion. Each Group was asked to consider and agree answers to

- aims and objectives of the Group?

- Meetings: when, where and why?

- Reporting: to the Secretary General, but by whom?

- Name of the Group?

- Support: what support is needed?

- Does the Group have anything else to add?

A Rapporteur of each Group is to report back to the first Session on 19 May.

The General Meeting on 18 May closed at 6pm.

5. Working Group Round Up

The Working Groups active at this Meeting were:-

» International Fraud Group

» International Employment Group

» Tender Group

» International Criminal Defence Group

» Sports Law Group

» E-Commerce Group

» Avrio Real Estate Advocati (name to be confirmed)

Reports were given on the discussions within each of these Groups, and a synopsis of each report is annexed to these minutes. It was further agreed to set up intranets for each of the Working Groups to  promote communication and information exchange, both amongst the Group and to others.

6. Potential Members and Guest Presentations

6.1 Juan Ramon Itturiagagoitia presented his office in Brussels and briefly spoke about his background and work experience with a Spanish Law Firm in Barcelona. He pointed out his interest in joining the network also with regards to the Tender Working Group with which he had already co-operated in the past year.

6.2 Francesca Pentericci of a small sized firm in Jesi-Ancona, Italy gave a presentation on her office and their areas of speciality. The latter are Commercial Law, Insolvency Law, Commercial Property and Litigation and European Law. She further pointed out their broad range of business and private clients to whom both a full legal service as well as a more individual specialist service is offered.

6.2 Patrick Giles, Secretary of the The Bridge Group (a network of U S Lawyers)introduced himself to all Members. He explained the structure of their network and the overall business approach namely “to always prioritise the client”. He further pointed out the structural differences with Avrio Advocati, particularly the size of member firms and the cultural differences. Patrick Giles further indicated the interest on behalf of The Bridge Group, to have a closer communication with their European equivalent and encourage exchange of information when appropriate.

7. Association International Sans But Lucratif (“Association”)

John Clarke referred back to his introductory remarks, and to those in a letter to Members, where the proposal to incorporate an Association had been mentioned. The Board had approved this proposal in principle, as it offered the best way for the Members to be able to achieve their aims within the law. He then invited Johan Vanden Eynde to make a presentation on the proposals.

Johan Vanden Eynde gave all members an overview of Avrio Advocati’s legal structure and pointed out the necessity to update the overall registration. He then answered questions from Members on the working structure of the Association. The meeting approved, in principle, the Boards proposals. It was remitted to the Board to finalise these proposals, with a view to the Association being operational by the next General Meeting.

To bring the position of the EEIG up to date, a resolution was circulated for signature at the General Meeting so that the necessary documents could be deposited at the Moniteur Belge in Brussels. For reasons primarily relating to the activities of the Tender Working Group, it may be necessary to run the EEIG in parallel to the Association for a number of years.

8. Conclusion of the General Meeting

John Clarke thanked all Members present and stressed how fruitful it was as well as important that so many Member Firms were present. He thanked the Austrian Member Firm for the organisation and Catherine Pinnekamp for co-ordinating the programme. Furthermore, he concluded with a positive outlook for Avrio Advocati in view of the Members Participation and the feedback that was already received on the network’s future development.

9. Next Meeting

The next meeting will take place in Bonn, Germany on Saturday, 24 November 2001. It will be preceded by the Sports Law Congress on 22 and 23 November.