A six man delegation from Birmingham Law Society (BLS) has visited Lyon in a bid to improve links with French lawyers.

Solicitors from 4 local firms took part in the trip, which is part of the organisation’s push to forge better overseas links.

The visit was supported by Birmingham Chamber International Team and UK Trade and Investment (UKTI); the government organisation which assists UK companies to trade internationally.

The three day event included a conference on European family law and a debate on the judiciary. A series of social events with local French lawyers ranged from a personal, welcome dinner at home to a grand evening event at the exquisite Town Hall.  The opportunity to visit the Town Hall alone was one not to be missed, and the function was to celebrate the opening of the Lyon Bar Legal Year and welcome the newly qualified Avocats to the profession.  Tickets are extremely difficult to obtain, as the event caters for 1,000 whilst there are 2,000 lawyers in Lyon.  Our French hosts pulled out all the stops to ensure we were involved and their hospitality was second to none.

Carla Hull, Chair of BLS’s International Committee, organised and took part in the visit.

She said: “This is our second visit to Lyon this year and is proving an excellent way of forging links with Birmingham’s twin city. Indeed, since the last visit in March 2007 I have started to work more closely myself with Tim Hughes of Colbert Avocats, both in my specialist field of Family Law and in terms of cross referrals.  The visit should encourage more Birmingham firms to develop relationships with firms in Lyon as there is clearly an expanding marketplace."

“The conference also included lawyers from Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland, Philadelphia and Tunisia, so provided excellent networking opportunities.”

The visit will be reciprocated in January, when many of the host lawyers will attend BLS’s annual president’s dinner.