AGM

What a start it has been into 2020… with this mind-blowing AGM in India – my head is full of joy when I think of the time we had in Delhi and Agra. A great thank you and a big applause one more time to Pankaj and his team from ILG India! And what a dramatic shift it took as of March… My fair guess is that it was a challenging year for all of us, both from a professional and personal point of view.

Through the hard work of prior Board Members and all of our members firms, Pangea Net is situated today as a very strong and vibrant organization with: coverage in over 26 jurisdictions, hundreds of local legal experts with an international flair and an exceptional multidisciplinary offering. Ever since I’ve been a member of the Board, Pangea Net has been growing. Starting as – and still – mainly European network at heart, we have a true global vision and strive to be a truly global network.

Wow, our 10 year anniversary – where did that come from? It seems like only yesterday that Georg, Franz, Andreas, Roberto, Peter and I were sat in a pub in London discussing the possibility of setting up our own network; just look at where we are today! I am immensely proud of how the network has grown and developed since 2009. We couldn’t have done it without you, our members, and so I wanted to express my personal thanks to you all in making this network such a success!

This past year has been one of looking inward for Pangea Net and assessing the ways in which we can improve and strengthen the network. ln particular, the board has been focussed on exploring cross­jurisdictional business development opportunities and increasing referrals between member firms. ln many ways we consider this to be the key to ensuring the future of the network

lt is a pleasure to once again introduce a document, which sets out a summary of some of the highlights and key achievements within the network over the past 12 months. Following last year’s report, the network continues to grow and evolve. With an established and proactive membership, it is encouraging to see so much activity taking place in the network. ln particular, the network’s practice groups go from strength to strength and a number of network members have been involved in secondments and exchanges.

It’s incredible to believe that we are no approaching our eighth AGM and this is the second edition Pangea Net’s Annual Report. I was delighted to receive such a positive response to last year’s report which was very much a “first attempt”. The Board would really like to build on the concept going forward and hope that you find this year’s edition to be equally interesting, if not more so.