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The 2026 Inter-Pacific Bar Association (IPBA) Annual Meeting and Conference took place in New Delhi from 25-28 February, bringing together more than 850 legal professionals from across the globe. India Business Law Journal wraps up our on-the-ground, live coverage of the sessions, social events and exclusive interviews with some of the delegates.

Marking a historic moment for the IPBA, Priti Suri, managing partner of PSA Legal, took over as IPBA president at the close of the conference on 28 February, becoming the first Indian woman to lead the organisation. (See our related coverage on Suri’s journey and taking on this role here). Both of 含羞草社区 previous IPBA presidents, Lalit Bhasin (Society of Indian Law Firms, Bhasin & Co, president in 2012) and Ravi Nath (Rajinder Narain & Co, president in 2003), attended the conference, demonstrating the strong history of Indian leadership within the organisation.

Opening events

The conference kicked off with an elegant Welcome Reception at the Pullman Hotel on 25 February. Outgoing IPBA president Michael Chu (McDermott Will & Emery, US) delivered a thoughtful opening address reflecting on his tenure, followed by remarks from the event’s chief guest, Supreme Court Judge N Kotiswar Singh.

The next day, Suri and Chu officially launched the event with a traditional Indian lamp lighting ceremony (Deepa Prajwalan). They were joined on stage by the next IPBA president-elect James Jung, former president Jack Li (Jin Mao Partners), and IPBA committee members Upendra Nath Sharma (JSA, India), Manjula Chawla (Phoenix Legal, India), and Rudra Kumar Pandey (Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co, India). 含羞草社区 Solicitor General, Tushar Mehta, was slated to give the keynote address, but had been called away for “his expertise on a matter of national importance”. He sent his best wishes and the conference proceeded with an action-packed agenda.

Corporate, M&A and disputes

The “Managing Partner’s Panel” explored the intersection of technology, young lawyers and law firm models. Moderated by Richard Briggs (Hadef & Partners, United Arab Emirates), the panel featured Sridhar Gorthi (Trilegal, India), Pallavi Shroff (Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co, India), Florian Khol (Binder Gr?sswang, Austria) and Gaurav Dani (CMS IndusLaw, India).

Cross-border business was thoroughly dissected across multiple sessions. A panel addressing minority interests in M&A transactions featured Fi Ling Quak (WongPartnership, Singapore), Mithun V Thanks (Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co, India), Saurav Kumar (CMS IndusLaw, India), Miranda Liu (Stellex Law Firm, Taiwan) and Frederic Ruppert (Fr Law-Avocat, France).

Meanwhile, a session on the complexities of governing laws in cross-border M&A included insights from Youn Nam Lee (Bae Kim & Lee, South Korea) and Ashima Obhan (Obhan Mason, India).

Dispute resolution experts navigated litigation and arbitration strategies in their panel, utilising the expertise of Paras Lalwani (Rajah & Tann, Singapore), Stefanie Pfisterer (Homburger, Switzerland), Kumar Kanagasabai (Halim Hong & Quek, Malaysia), Lawrence Schaner (Schaner Dispute Resolution, United States), and Sapna Jhangiani (Blackstone Chambers, Singapore).

Private equity, finance and tax

Investment and financial trends dominated several of the conference sessions. The “Navigating Cross-Border Private Capital Investments” panel mapped out private equity trajectories, featuring Markus Rasner (Oppenhoff, Germany), Akshat Babbar (Chrys Capital, India), Kyle Lee (WongPartnership, Singapore), Gen Takahashi (Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, Japan), and Claudio Oksenberg (Mattos Filho, Brazil).

A finance panel tackled the controversial USD17 billion wipeout of Credit Suisse’s AT-1 bonds. Moderated by Ali Al Hashimi (Global Advocacy and Legal Counsel, United Arab Emirates), the session saw insightful views from Koh Swee Yen SC (WongPartnership, Singapore), Parul Verma (Dentons Link Legal, India), and Kentaro Minato (Atsumi & Sakai, Japan).

Tax lawyers parsed through the intricacies of international taxation in “Domestic Law v Bilateral Treaty”. Moderators Gibran Naushad (GN Law, India) and Siong Sie Khong (Jason Teoh & Partners, Malaysia) led discussions with Tom Kwon (Lee & Ko, South Korea), Brígida Galbete (Cuatrecasas Legal, Spain), Tin-Lok Shea (H&H Lawyers, Australia), and Sneh Shah (Khaitan & Co, India).

Trade and foreign direct investment

Geopolitics, tariffs and supply chains were debated in the “Tariffs & Export Controls” panel moderated by Kala Anandarajah (Rajah & Tann, Singapore). It featured Corey Norton (Porter Wright, US), Sanjay Notani (Economic Laws Practice, India), Byron Maniatis (Hogan Lovells, Belgium), and Andrey Zharskiy (Alrud Law Firm, Russia).

Another panel shed light on national security policies and their effects on foreign direct investment, leveraging the experiences of Timur Akhundov (Birch Legal, Russia), Hong Bui (LNT & Partners, Vietnam), and Ira Eddymurthy (SSEK Law Firm, Indonesia).

Work culture, diversity and client relations

Workplace evolution was a significant focal point at the conference. In the panel “From Boomers to Zoomers”, speakers debated the four-day work week versus the intense 996 system of 12-hour days, six days a week. Insights were shared by Bj?rn Otto (CMS, Germany), Ajay Solanki (AZB & Partners, India), Harold Berrier (Ydès, France), Poorvi Chothani (LawQuest, US), and Pimvimol (June) Vipamaneerut (Tilleke & Gibbins, Thailand).

The session “Real Talk: Women Lawyers Conquering Challenges” tackled imposter syndrome, guilt and the pursuit of “having it all”. Gmeleen Tomboc (Gurin Energy, Singapore) moderated the discussion alongside Renu Menon (Drew & Napier, Singapore), Quyen Hoang (LNT & Partners, Vietnam), and Erika Paulino (MVGS Law Firm, Philippines).

On the topic of relationship-building, the “Sales for Lawyers” session stressed authenticity over transactional interactions, highlighted by Alessandra Nascimento Silva e Figueiredo Mour?o (Nascimento e Mour?o Advogados, Brazil), Jonathan Lai (Watanabe Ing, US), and Itzik Amiel (The Switch, Netherlands).

Artificial intelligence and ESG

Artificial intelligence’s transformative and disruptive powers were a recurring theme. The “Role of AI in a Competitive Economy” session featured a special address by Deepak Anurag of the Competition Commission of India. Moderated by Nisha Kaur Uberoi (JSA, India), the discussion incorporated views from Matt Takeshi Komatsu (Mori Hamada, Singapore), Manish Gupta (Aditya Birla Group, India), Shin Jae Kim (TozziniFreire Advogados, Brazil), Bhavna Verma (Schneider Electric, India).

Simultaneously, the “Regulation of Digital Products and AI” panel examined if enough was being done to ensure safe AI frameworks. Daniel Liang (Allen & Gledhill, Singapore) moderated the discussion with Senthil Dayalan (Forte Law, Singapore), Vivek Kathpalia (Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, India), and Ameeta Verma Duggal (DGS Associates, India).

Sustainability rounded out the key topics with the “Carbon Crossroads” panel on ESG and net-zero futures. It was presented by Christina Reyes (Cochingyan & Partners Law Offices, Philippines) and Weronika Nalbert (Wardyński & Partners, Poland), alongside Andreanna Ten (Zaid Ibrahim & Co, Malaysia), Vanita Bhargava (Khaitan & Co, India), Romanee (Mengni) Luo (QZ&WD Law Firm, China) and Eric Wagner (Gleiss Lutz, Germany).

Law with a Bollywood vibe

The mood on the ground was overwhelmingly positive, with delegates including Yu Wakae (Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu, Japan), Rajan Kapoor (Axis Bank, India), Mariel Dimsey (MD Arbitration and Advisory, Hong Kong), and Amit Bansal (Deloitte, India) expressing their appreciation for the conference’s diverse panels, focus on geopolitics and rich networking opportunities.

In an exclusive interview with?India Business Law Journal, outgoing president Michael Chu praised Suri’s leadership and reiterated that the true magic of the IPBA lies in forming sincere, cross-border friendships rather than purely transactional encounters.

This camaraderie was on full display during the social events. Mid-week, delegates gathered for an elegant Gala Dinner at Raffles in Gurugram on 26 February, where they were treated to multiple Indian cultural performances of kathakali, garba and bhangra originating from various parts of the country.

The conference on the following day concluded with an unforgettable Bollywood party where delegates enjoyed al-fresco dining before hitting the dance floor adorned in mehendi (henna tattoos) and traditional turbans.

The 2026 IPBA Annual Meeting in New Delhi will be remembered not only for its substantive content, lively debates and cultural celebration, but also for the historic elevation of Priti Suri, ushering in a new era for the organisation.

The next IPBA conference will be held in Sydney where James Jung will take over as president.