IPG Autumn Conference October 2024 Edinburgh – Scotland - Summary by Selven Iyaroo

Conference Report

The sound of bagpipes and the aroma of whisky and haggis greeted the delegates at the IPG Autumn 2024 Conference in Edinburgh.

A hotbed of genius and cradle of the Scottish Enlightenment, Edinburgh was fittingly chosen as the host city for our IPG Autumn Conference which was held from 17 October to 20 October 2024.

The ever-expanding global reach of the International Practice Group drew a diverse delegation of lawyers and accountants from around the world to Edinburgh.

The Conference served as a forum for member firms to interact with economists, marketing professionals, Scottish legal experts and personal development gurus. The different sessions provided a framework of wider discussions on how the Scottish economy is performing, how Scots law has been influential around the world and how to make your accountancy or law practice more diverse, talent management and developing future partners.  Indeed, the two-day conference were buzzing with lively discussions and debate – not only during the interactive sessions, but also around the coffee tables!

Early Birds Arrival

A first get together was organised on Wednesday 16 October at the OX184 restaurant nearby the conference hotel where the early arrivals could enjoy a gastro pub dinner.

Golf tournament

At the same time the IPG golf community had the pleasure to enjoy  3 days of fantastic golf, organised by former Chairman Graham Wallace, where his enthusiastic fellow golfers could explore some of Scotland’s most famous golf courts and test their resistance to Scottish weather conditions.

Welcome Dinner

The conference kicked off with the welcome dinner on 17 October 2024 at Bread Street Kitchen.

Opening of the Conference – 18 October 2024

Nicholas Lakeland, the IPG Chairman, addressed and welcomed all distinguished speakers and delegates from the member firms. He expressed his gratitude to the host, Graham Wallace of Barnes Roffe LLP, for his professionalism and dynamism and for creating a true family spirit for the organisation of the conference.

• First session – Economic outlook: Scotland’s Economy in 2024 – Beneath the averages 

Presented by Sebastian Burnside

Sebastian Burnside, Chief Economist at the Royal Bank of Scotland, kicked off the morning session by giving an overview of the Scottish economy through a deep dive into some statistics. 

Key points to note:

• Scotland’s economic recovery gained pace in H1 2024 with most sectors of the economy seeing a return to pre-pandemic levels.  Sectors like wholesale, retail, agriculture and manufacturing are still sluggish and are yet to return to pre-pandemic levels.
• As with much of Europe and the rest of the world, inflation has been the dominant macro-economic theme for the last two years.  In the UK, we have seen inflation coming down to within the Bank of England target of 2% (UK rate of inflation in the 12 months to September 2024 was 1.7%).
• There are stark contrasts between the rate of growth between town and cities across the UK – as it happens Edinburgh is fairing pretty well - even outperforming London!
• There are visible manifestations of the changing nature of the British economy such as the evolution of the British high streets. The rise of online shopping and banking, the squeeze on living standards since the financial crisis and (post-pandemic) the surge in remote working have all taken their toll on high streets of British town and city centres. Through looking at the data Sebastian Burnside provided, we can see which types of business have been on the ascent and descent on our high streets.  Barbers and nail salons appear to have mushroomed on the British high streets, while pubs, banks and estate agents have shut shop.

• Presentation of candidates for IPG membership

Several candidates wishing to join IPG presented their case to the delegates.

• Consultorías & Auditorias Ussa

Tatiana Ussa, from C&A Ussa, took the floor to introduce her firm to the delegates.  

C&A Ussa is a firm of accountants, auditors and tax advisers based in Colombia.  With over 26 years of experience, the firm is well known for servicing hotels and the hospitality sector in general.

• Pinnacle Advisory Group

Nora Fairbanks, from Pinnacle Advisory Group gave an overview of the services provided by Pinnacle Advisory Group.  The Group is a boutique private client firm of lawyers and accountants delivering.  Pinnacle Advisory Group specialises in international tax and succession advice to HNW families who are predominantly entrepreneurs and first-generation wealth creators.  It should be noted that Pinnacle Advisory Group is a returning member.  

• AFS Morocco 

Oussama Benkiran from AFS Morocco attended our IPG/LEX Africa Conference in May this year, invited by our host Ghiyta Iraqi, Managing Partner of I&I Law Firm in Casablanca.

Having experienced, first hand, the benefits of being a member of the IPG Network, Oussama gave a presentation about the services which AFS Morocco offer with a view to potentially being admitted to the network.

AFS is an accountancy firm based in Rabat supplying accounting, auditing and strategic advisory services to its clients.  The firm was founded by Oussama Benkiran in 2012.

• Second session – Part 1. Doing Business in Scotland.

Presented by Tricia Fox

Tricia Fox is a Scottish entrepreneur with over two decades experience in starting, running and scaling small businesses.

Tricia’s opened her presentation by focussing on the main sectors of the Scottish economy.  

The finance and tech sector are promising sectors in Scotland.  The tech sector in Scotland has seen big investments in recent years predominantly in AI and the gaming industry.

Who would have thought Scotland has a thriving space sector!  Yes, Tricia proudly laid out some facts about the space industry in Scotland – a £4bn industry employing some 26,000 people.  The Scottish space industry is growing rapidly towards an 'end-to-end' offering that covers Europe-leading small satellite manufacture and launch. 

Tricia gave an overview of why Scotland is a great place to invest.  Scotland’s businesses benefit from a highly educated workforce who is at the same time digitally skilled and multi-lingual.

Tricia also touched on some of the special quirks about Scotland compared to the rest of the UK, namely:

• The devolution of powers to Scotland
• Employee benefits in Scotland 
• Scottish personal income tax.  

• Second session – Part 2. “Law: Scotland v England & Wales” Main differences and historical background

Presented by: Mr. Brian Inkster

Brian Inkster, the founder and CEO of Inksters and dubbed the ‘flying lawyer” gave a historical background of Scots Law, highlighted some main differences, covered some Scots Law that has been influential around the world.  Brian also pointed out a couple of things that are fairly unique in law in certain parts of Scotland.

Brian went through the history of Scots Law looking at the early influences of Gaelic, Welsh, Norse and Anglo-Saxon customs. Brian took delegates from the Acts of Union in 1707 to Devolution in 1998.

Differences were highlighted in laws and terminology e.g. Advocates v Barristers; Devils v Pupils; Delict v Tort; Executry/Confirmation v Probate; Interdict v Injunction.

For Scots law influence, Brian covered Donoghue v Stevenson, Moncrieff v Jamieson (quoting from Roddy Paisley’s latest book, 'Rights Ancillary to Servitudes', the long list of foreign jurisdictions where it has been referenced).

Then a couple of peculiarities within Scotland: Udal Law and Crofting Law were also touched on by Brian.

6. 
   Third session: The Partner Track Decoded: Identifying, Nurturing, and Preparing Your Future Leaders

Presented by:  Heather Townsend

Heather Townsend spent the last twenty years helping talented professionals achieve their potential to step up to the partner role.  Heather is also an author.

Heather’s key note presentation centred around three themes:

Theme1:  What does diversity mean for your firm 

Theme 2: Best practice talent management 

Theme 3: Developing your firm's future partners

Interactive roundtable discussions were held on each of the above themes.

The key takeaways were:

1. building a more diverse partnership is not about positive discrimination. It is about building a more commercially robust and resilient partnership by widening the talent pools.
2. Communicating expectations is key to effective talent management
3. you don’t need high performing senior fee earners as partners, what you need are people that have what it takes to lead and run a business. 

After a full day’s Conference on Friday 18 October 2024, the delegates retired to the Voodoo Rooms for the Gala dinner.

The IPG AGM

The IPG AGM was held on Saturday 19 October 2024.  The following resolutions were put to the members and voted upon:

1. The members unanimously voted in favour to admit the following candidates to IPG:

1. AFS – Accounting and Finance Services, Morocco
2. CONSULTORIAS & AUDITORIAS USSA, Colombia
3. PINNACLE, Australia

Changes to the IPG Board

Members voted unanimously in favour of appointing Klaus Bertram as a member of the Board.

As a recognition for Graham Wallace’s long and loyal service as Board member and Chairman of IPG for over 14 years, members unanimously voted in favour of Graham Wallace to be appointed as Honorary Member of IPG.

Board members Ida Stavnes Høisæther and Marjolein van Leeuwen provided an update on the sections they are heading and Lisa Rosen showed the membership again our white spots inviting everybody to think of business contacts to introduce to the IPG network.

Open mic sessions

Session 1 by Thomas Gardiner and John Wrona of GKWW (Gardiner Koch Weisberg & Wrona with offices, in the heart of downtown Chicago, on the shores of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, and in Naperville, Illinois)

Thomas Gardiner and his colleague John Wrona who joined for the first time an IPG conference, co-presented on Medical Malpractice in America, more specifically, a case they have been working on showing the audience the various steps taken from pre-trial actions, filing suit, first stage of case and trial.

Session 2 by Nicholas Lakeland

Nicholas Lakeland addressed the delegates on the new law on sexual harassment in the workplace in the UK.

The Act introduces a mandatory duty on employers to take 'reasonable steps' to prevent sexual harassment of employees in the course of their employment.

From 26 October 2024, employers will be under a new legal duty to take reasonable steps to prevent the sexual harassment of staff at work.

Nicholas stated that in order to effectively prepare for the new duty, employers should reflect on their current sexual harassment strategy, and make improvements where necessary.

Session 3: Graham Wallace

Graham Wallace gave an outlook on the upcoming UK Autumn Budget under the new Labour government.

Despite pledging not to raise taxes for working people, or the headline rate of income tax, national insurance or VAT, the UK Labour government could still tinker with all of these, for example extending the freeze on income tax thresholds.

There is concern that Capital Gains Tax (CGT) rates in the UK could increase, prompting many to consider crystallising gains under the current, more favorable rates. It has been suggested that CGT rates could be aligned with income tax rates.

On the pensions front, there is speculation that the 25% tax free lump sum could be removed or restricted.

Walking Tour of Edinburgh

After the AGM, members departed for a walking tour of Edinburgh.

Walking down the Royal Mile members came across statues of famous Scottish personalities including philosopher David Hume, arguably the greatest philosopher of his time, if not all time.

After a visit at the Palace of Holyroodhouse where the tour guide gave us a brief history of the Kings and Queens who reigned Scotland, we made a whistle stop visit to Adam Smith’s grave. 

A brief visit at the National Museum of Scotland reminded us of Dolly the Sheep and the advancement in stem cell research in Scotland and indeed the world – we were reunited with Dolly’s taxidermy remains at the Museum.

The highlight of the tour was undeniably the Whisky tasting at The Scotch Whisky Experience.  Members were introduced to the different regions where the famous Scottish single malt whisky is made (including the distinct flavours of whisky from the different regions) before indulging into the actual whisky tasting experience.

Farewell Dinner

In the evening of Saturday 19th October 2024, the delegates retired for a farewell dinner at the Caves.  The men proudly adorned their kilts while the ladies looked stunning with their tartan sashes.  For most of the delegates, they never thought they’d live to see the day they would be wearing a Kilt - but hey! as the Scots say "Yer a long time deid!" which translates into "seize the day and live life to the fullest, you never know what might happen"

Selven Iyaroo

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