From 5th September to 8th September 2019, we were hosted by our friends at Gorrissen Federspiel in Denmark.
Delegates stayed in The Hotel Admiral and this is where the afternoon session of the AGM itself also took place.
On Thursday 5th September we were welcomed by Christian Alsoe for Welcome Drinks at Gorrissen Federspiel’s most impressive office followed by dinner at Bistro Boheme. Bistro Boheme is one of the great successes in the Copenhagen restaurant scene in recent years serving good old-fashioned French gastronomy. ‘This year’s bistro/brasserie’ in 2009, 2012 and 2016 voted by the Danish Dining Guide.
The AGM commenced at 9:30am on Friday 6th September in Gorrissen Federspiel’s unique auditorium with a welcome from Jeff Gillbanks’ who gave his report on the previous year. We also heard from Ben Smith on accounts, Risto Vahimets with the Junior Board on their feedback and Philippe Francois on the 2020 Training Seminar.
After a short coffee break our first speaker, William de Wijlder, Group Chief Economist BNP Paribas, gave a presentation/Q&A session on the “Economic Outlook for lawyers” which was received well amongst our European colleagues.
After this we were picked up by coach to return to The Hotel Admiral for lunch followed by our second speaker, Rikke Stürup, Cand. Psyk., Master of Science who spoke about ”The different good roles of the Trusted Advisor”?
Jeff Gillbanks rounded off the day in announcing The John Kerr Memorial Fund, a fund set up in John’s memory to find and reward young lawyers within our member firms.
We hope that all delegates found both presentations as interesting as we did. Please send any ideas for future topics of our AGMs to Helen Cooper.
Whilst the AGM was going on the spouses in attendance were treated to a guided tour at Kronborg Castle including visits to the royal lodges, the dance hall, the castle church and Holger Danske followed by lunch at Restaurant Sletten. Restaurant Sletten is located in the old town of Sletten. Surrounded by fishermen’s cottages and directly overlooking the harbour and the sea, the place oozes of charm and nostalgia. The restaurant is owned by the chef duo behind Michelin-star restaurant Formel B in Copenhagen.
That evening, we took a short boat ride to the venue of the Gala Dinner at Restaurant Kost og Mask located at the top of the Opera House, which is inspired by the theatrical term for the final dress rehearsal, where the entire ensemble is present in costume and makeup.
The less formal part of the programme on Saturday included a guided tour at the Skovlyst Brewery with tastings and a presentation of their philosophy followed by lunch. The brewery has existed since 2004. Everything is homemade and home-baked and is based on the seasonal ingredients, and the beer from Brewery Skovlyst is sold exclusively on site. Delegates then returned to by the hotel to go on a guided architectural tour by boat through Copenhagen Harbour. Dinner that evening was in Restaurant Gemyse within Tivoli Gardens followed by fireworks and music.
We are very grateful to those at Gorrissen Federspiel for an excellently organised and successful event.