North America
North American and Offshore Meeting Montréal, Canada 28-30 May 2025
Following this year’s successful North American Meeting (NAM) in Stockholm, Montreal has been chosen as next year’s destination for the COMBAR NAM in 2025. Registration will open early in the New Year.
The venue for the Conference will be the Ritz Carlton. The programme will follow a similar format to previous years. Mr Justice Henshaw, the Judge in Charge of the Commercial Court, has very kindly agreed to attend the Conference. We anticipate that we will also have senior members of the Canadian Federal and Québécois judiciary in attendance as judicial guests of honour.
This year we will be specifically welcoming back the Offshore members again and we anticipate being joined by a number of colleagues from the BVI, Cayman Islands and Bermuda (among other places).
The Conference will open with a welcome reception on the evening of Wednesday 28th May 2025 in the splendour of the Oval Room and Terrace at the Ritz Carlton. The Conference will run over the Thursday and Friday with a drinks reception on the Thursday evening, which will be held at le9e, a recently restored 1930’s Art Deco gem located on the ninth floor of Montreal’s Eaton Centre. The meeting will culminate with a gala dinner on the Friday 30th May 2025. This will be held in the spectacular St James Theatre, which has been exclusively hired for the evening. As ever, families are welcome, and a walking tour and lunch will be arranged for them to explore the delights of Montreal.
Room Booking
A group booking rate has been agreed with the Ritz-Carlton, Montreal for their deluxe and signature rooms. Please book here. The hotel has said that it will endeavor to honour the group booking rate for 3 days either side of the conference stay while availability allows – so please book early. The last day to book the group rate is Sunday, April 28th, 2025, one month out from the meeting.
A reduced rate has also been agreed for their Junior Suites while availability allows. To book a junior suite or extend your stay please email groupreservations@ritzmontreal.com directly quoting “COMBAR” or Call 514-842-4212 to secure your booking. We encourage you to book early.
Details of the price inclusive of taxes are below:
| Guest Room Category | Room rate before taxes | Room rates inclusive all taxes |
| Deluxe and signature rooms | $ 425.00 | $ 505.70 (£285*) |
| Junior Suite with king room | $ 625.00 | $ 743.70 (£420*) |
*Indicative exchange rate as at 11 Dec 24.
Registration
Registration will open soon. Until then, while we finalise details, we encourage you to secure your accommodation and flights. We look forward to seeing you there.
Juniors Barristers are Especially Welcomed
We strongly encourage junior members of the Bar to attend. As with previous conferences significant grants are available for members under 7 years call from the Bar Council and British Council. Junior members may apply to the Young Barristers’ Committees’ International Grant Programme, which may pay up to two thirds of junior members’ total attendance costs.
North American Meeting 2024 Stockholm, Sweden
Registration is now closed but enquiries regarding late registrations are welcome, please email admin@Combar.com.
The North American Meeting will be held in Stockholm 29th May – 31st May. Download the programme here.
Judicial Guests
We are fortunate to be joined by both The Lady Chief Justice, Baroness Sue Carr, DBE, PC, and The Hon. Mr Justice Foxton, the Judge in Charge of the Commercial Court, as our Judicial Guests.
Juniors Barristers are Welcomed
Attendance by Junior Barristers is strongly encouraged. A new lower rate for “junior” Junior barristers of £200 for those under 4 years call (not start of practice) has been introduced this year. Those under 7 years are encouraged to investigate the Young Barristers’ Committees’ International Grant Programme, which offers to pay two thirds of Juniors’ total attendance costs.
Conference Programme
The meeting will be primarily held at the Hotel At Six, a modern, stylish hotel set in the centre of Stockholm save for the Friday morning session which will take place at the nearby Nordic Light Hotel. Although it is only a 10 min walk between venues, free transport will be provided by the Hotel At Six to take guests from At Six to the Nordic, and back again.
The conference will consist of sessions addressing contemporary issues for commercial litigators including Law and Technology, Issues in Cross-Border Litigation, and Perspectives in Advocacy at both first instance and appellate level. On the Thursday morning there will be a breakfast for Juniors kindly hosted by our Judicial Guests.
The conference will begin with a welcome reception on Wednesday 29th May 2024 that will be held at the Nest rooftop bar and spa. Members’ families / children are warmly welcomed.
The panel sessions will run over the Thursday and Friday in the Hotels’ conference facilities. Both conference venues have been exclusively hired for each day. After the success of the breakfasts at the conference in Boston in May 2023, welcome breakfasts will be held at the At Six Hotel on the Thursday and the Nordic on the Friday to start the conference day.
The Thursday evening cocktail reception will be held in the spectacular Vasa Museum and will include a tour of the 17th century Swedish warship, for those that wish to. The events will culminate with a gala dinner on the evening of Friday 31st May 2024 that will be held in the Golden Hall of Stockholm City Hall, (Golden Hall – Wikipedia), a beautiful historic venue which lives up to its name. Swedish Supreme Court Judge Eric M Runesson will give a short welcome speech at the drinks reception immediately before the gala dinner.
Walking Tour for Families and Guests
Families are warmly welcomed and a walking tour followed by lunch has been arranged for the Thursday. It will start at the hotel At Six and will walk through the centuries of history that the Old Town offers. During the walk you will hear about how and why Stockholm was founded on its specific location. You will pass the Cathedral, where the Royal Family have their weddings and the Royal Palace. Details of how to book family members to the tour will be circulated closer to the event.
For those members with young families, babysitting facilities are available through Hotel At Six, by private arrangement, at a reasonable hourly rate. Please email info@hotelatsix.com directly to make arrangements.
Hotel Room Booking – Please book here.
We always try to secure a favourable rate with the conference hotel direct so that members can take advantage of a good rate. However, the hotel has been offering very favourable room rates when booking direct. While we can’t guarantee that these rates will not increase as availability decreases, we can highlight the very favourable policy which allows guests to cancel without any charge up to 24 hours before the date of check-in. We would therefore encourage you to book rooms with the hotel now to take advantage of both the current excellent rates and the favourable cancellation policy, even if you are not yet sure whether you can attend the conference. Rooms in Hotel At Six can be booked here.
Registration
Registration is open. We have managed to keep fees lower than the 2023 North American meeting in Boston. We have also introduced a new lower rate for “junior” Junior barristers.
We look forward to seeing you and your families in Stockholm. If you have any questions, please email me through admin@combar.com
Combined North American and Offshore Meeting 2023, Boston, USA
The successful meeting took place in Boston from the 31st May to the 2nd June. It is hoped that the presentations will be distributed to the participants in due course. The registration link is now closed.
The meeting began with a welcome reception on the evening of Wednesday 31 May 2023 in the Wyeth Room of the Langham Hotel, a cocktail reception was held at the Boston College Club overlooking the city with river views on the Thursday evening and the conference finished with a gala dinner held at the Moakley Federal Courthouse on Friday 2 June 2023. The conference itself was hosted at The Langham Hotel, a beautiful venue located in the heart of downtown Boston, and was accompanied by a variety of cultural and social events for members, their partners and families. The programme may be found here.
The North American meetings are always valuable and hugely enjoyable occasions. The meeting is attended by COMBAR barrister members of all seniorities, as well as senior litigators from leading US, Canadian an Mexican firms, and it provides an unrivalled opportunity for people to meet and discuss matters in convivial and relaxed surroundings. This year, our guest of honour was Mr Justice Foxton, the Judge in Charge of the Commercial Court. Boston provided the perfect location for our first event in North America since 2019, and we were particularly excited to welcome colleagues practising in offshore jurisdictions who brought an even broader international perspective to the sessions.
North American Meeting 2022, Florence, Italy
The North American Meeting in Florence on 2 and 3 June was a great success. Having waited two years for the Meeting to finally take place, Combar members and our Honorary Overseas members were able to make up for lost time and enjoy lively and interesting discussion. The programme line up worked well with a good balance of substantive, comparative, procedural and acquired wisdom. The St Regis Hotel was a perfect venue for the conference, with its high ceilings and beautiful decorations and delegates did not feel trapped by the windowless rooms that are the usual custom for conference venues. The al fresco social events were lovely too and we were blessed with sunshine and warm weather throughout our time in Florence. Special thanks to all our panel speakers and to Jim Drake QC for inviting delegates to visit his vineyard at the weekend. I’m told business was brisk!