Martin Šolc, the first Central European to be elected President of the International Bar Association

The International Bar Association, (IBA), is the professional organization that brings together 201 national bar associations, including the Czech Bar Association, and, directly or through membership of law firms, more than 100,000 individual members. Martin Šolc, who since 2015 has been in the role of IBA Vice President, will, in 2017-2018 hold the most important office in the IBA. He takes over this position from the current president, US lawyer David W. Rivkin. The new organizational management was decided upon on Thursday, September 22, 2016 at the annual conference in Washington, by the IBA Council, with the voting of bar associations and individual members.

"I very much appreciate the confidence in me that the IBA Council has expressed by its choice. I consider my election as president of the organization to be a recognition of my more than twenty five years of work for the IBA as well as confirmation that Czech and Central European advocacy is seen as an active part of the global profession", said Martin Šolc after his election.

In his position as President of the IBA, Martin Šolc intends, in addition to promoting the idea of the rule of law, to implement certain changes in the functioning of the organization, for example, increasing the availability of conferences and seminars to a broader audience through online access. The IBA, according to Martin Šolc, should also in the future form a working group to focus on security issues and data managed by lawyers with the aim of establishing global standards in this regard.

"I heartily congratulate Martin on behalf of myself and also on behalf of the Czech Bar Association, in respect of this historic success. No representative of Czech advocacy has ever held such a high post in our field. Martin, within his current position in the IBA, has not forgotten where he came from, and I think that thanks to him, Czech lawyers internationally also have a very good reputation. I believe that he will succeed in his post, leaving behind an indelible positive footprint, "commented Martin Vychopeň, chairman of the board of directors of the Czech Bar Association.

Martin Šolc has long been one of the most respected lawyers in the Czech Republic, specializing mainly in advising on mergers and acquisitions and corporate restructurings and corporate law. In the years 2007 and 2011, he was awarded the title of Lawyer of the Year in commercial law; international ratings agencies for legal services have designated him as a leading lawyer in the area of corporate law and mergers and acquisitions in the Czech Republic.

The IBA, (based in London), is the largest and most important global organization of lawyers. It was founded in 1947 by a group of 37 national bar associations. It was founded shortly after the founding of the United Nations and the leading idea of the founders was that after the war, it should become in a kind of analogy, a UN for the legal profession. The IBA annually organizes more than 60 conferences, the annual conference is regularly attended by more than 5,000 lawyers. This year's conference in Washington was opened by a speech of the president of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, among the speakers, in addition to a number of ministers of the present US administration, was also the former chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke, former FBI Director Robert Mueller and the former foreign minister, retired General Colin Powell.