8th BRICS Legal Forum – Johannesburg, South Africa 2023

The Law Society of South Africa (LSSA) will host the eighth BRICS Legal Forum at Emperors Palace, Johannesburg, on 8 and 9 December. Leaders and members of the LSSA, the Brazilian Bar Association, the Association of Lawyers of Russia, the Bar Association of India, the China Law Society, the SA Bar Associations, legal academics, and legal practitioners from each member state will attend.

The conference’s objectives include, among others, seeking to provide a fair and equitable economic partnership that benefits the societies of member countries, especially in the developing world. The legal profession is best placed to ensure that there is legal certainty when disputes are resolved via arbitration, with agreed rules applicable across all BRICS countries so that international companies and institutions (including state-owned) have certainty on the rules applicable, financial and commercial structure, intellectual property and taxation implications awards are implementable.

The countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (SA)), which represent over 40% of the world’s population and over 20% of the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP), will meet to promote practical legal cooperation and the advancement of the rule of law within BRICS.

The conference will focus on –

Fostering the development of the Global South (Economic Order);
· The role of the BRICS Legal sector in ensuring the economic growth and development goals of the BRICS nations are realised.

BRICS Business Council;
· Roundtable panel discussion with Business Leaders from BRICS Countries.

Dispute Resolution for a New Global South Economic Order;
· Where we are and where are we going:

· Mediation and arbitration within BRICS

· BRICS Arbitration Centre

· Arbitration Rules

· Judiciary’s role in arbitration

Tax;
Company Law;
Formalisation of the Multilateral Systems for the BRICS-aligned New Economic Order:
· Is there a need for a BRICS Treaty to regulate matters of mutual interest, including encouraging and incentivising reciprocal investment and trade amongst BRICS member states (and the new BRICS +);

Investment Policy;
Intellectual Property;
Role of ESG consideration for funding of BRICS Projects: BRICS Bank and
Policy and legal inhibitors for the financing of infrastructure projects in BRICS nations.

The BRICS Legal Forum serves as an open, permanent platform for legal cooperation and professional exchange of ideas between lawyers of BRICS countries, as well as the promotion of legal diplomacy using law as an instrument for economic cooperation and social development. The Forum provides legal support for its member countries’ political, economic, and cultural development and the BRICS cooperation mechanism. It focuses on improving the discourse and decision-making powers of establishing a more justified international order and system.

Special guests will include –

Bruno Barata, Brazilian Bar Association
Stanislav Alexandrov, Association of Lawyers of Russia
Prashant Kumar, Bar Association of India
Zhang Mingqi, China Law Society
Ministry of Justice representative, Sergei Stepashin
Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Ronald Lamola
Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.

The conference will end with a press conference on 9 December at 13:00 announcing the declaration of the conference and the way forward.

Members of the press are invited to attend the two-day conference as a whole and the press conference.

To attend the BRICS Legal Forum Conference, register on the website at https://bricslegalforum.org

ISSUED ON BEHALF OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE LAW SOCIETY OF SOUTH AFRICA,

Ms Eunice Masipa

LSSA Communications Manager: Mapula Oliphant

Tel: (012) 366 8808

Cell: 076 026 5997