Dear members,

Following our very successful annual conference, I have now had the opportunity to reflect on the vast amount of information, feedback and reflections arising from it.
One sentence accompanied me during the whole time in Copenhagen.

As Linda Lipsen, CEO of the American Association for Justice, reflected in her opening words “lawyers are optimistic by nature”. I hope that all of you who attended Copenhagen will agree with me that what we have experienced these days is a true example of law professionals wanting to make a positive difference in the world now and in the future for the benefit of their clients, their practices and their own personal lives.

Such commitment to doing something that matters has been shared by all attendees and enlightened by the great speakers during our conference. I am therefore glad to see that PEOPIL has become the international forum to envision this fine way of practicing law and I hope that you have gone back to your practices with plenty of encouragement to face the challenges ahead of you.

Martin Seligman, psychology professor at the University of Pennsylvania, once said “Optimism is what causes perseverance” and we will certainly persist in providing you with a solid organisation to cater the needs of international personal injury lawyers.

For this task there is now a new Executive Board as well as a General Board with some renovated seats. Both committees have the same willingness to continue strengthening PEOPIL. I look forward to working alongside them and feel privileged for this opportunity.

As you are aware, the Executive Board will be integrated by Liam Moloney as Vice President, Stefano Dangel as Secretary, Mirella Hartman as Treasurer and Cheryl Palmer-Hughes as our Revitalisation Officer. I am very grateful for their commitment.

At the same time, I would like to acknowledge, once again, the work done for our organisation by those who have now left their positions, both in the General and Executive Boards, especially that of my predecessor, John Beer, as well as that of the immediate past Vice-President, Søren Vagner Nielsen, and immediate past Secretary, Clive Garner. PEOPIL would not be what it is today without their dedication.
This has, without doubt, been a fantastic conference and I cannot thank enough the efforts of all those who have contributed coordinating the program, sharing knowledge in their role of speakers and sponsoring. I am also grateful for the hard work in organising the event of our Administrator, Philippine Bax.

Especially, I would like to thank again Søren Vagner Nielsen and PLESNER for their generosity and for making us feel at home in the beautiful city of Copenhagen and producing such a special conference. This video gives a good picture of the event.
In the months ahead we will continue putting together initiatives that we believe can be an asset to your practices including conferences, seminars and webinars as well as spaces to share and gain experience from others, not only about the legal knowledge and how to put this in practice in the cases that we are dealing with, but also about how to grow as personal injury practitioners including matters concerning diversity and mentorship.

Please, therefore, stay in touch through our website and social media, including Instagram @peopil, LinkedIn and Facebook.
I look forward to hopefully seeing you before the end of the year on 21-22 October at the Central & Eastern European Conference in Bucharest and 3-4 November at the Joint RTA & Tourism Conference in Malaga. Both of the conferences bring further opportunities to learn and network and I would encourage you to register.