In-house conference hits Paris

THE 10,000-member American Corporate Counsel Association is holding its first conference aimed at in-house lawyers working in Europe.

The association, which opened its first European office in Brussels in April, will stage the conference in Paris this week.

Seminar topics will include the organisation and development of in-house legal departments, the changing legal environment for mergers and acquisitions in central and eastern Europe and corporate attorney-client relationships.

Brussels branch president Michel Cloes says the new office was opened "to bring together the people that have a commonality of interest in America or topics and issues related to in-house practice".

"This is an exclusively American association with a typical American agenda. We're involved in things that are never addressed by local national groups," he says."

Cloes says members include American lawyers working for US companies in Europe, Europeans working for American companies, and Europeans who have been registered as US attornies or as members of US Bar associations.

He says the association focuses on embargo and boycott rules and rules of discovery.