Short Introduction to IAPL History

IAPL's origins go back to the 3rd quarter of the last Century, to the early eighties. Instrumental to IAPL's establishment was Me. Raymond Jeanclos, of Paris, France, a founder and former President who, for personal reasons, cannot be here today.

In 1981, Raymond was a member of another Association called IWFS whose purposes were somewhat different from IAPL, but not entirely. The word "International" and perhaps the international appearance of its initials linked the two groups, but there were other linkages.

IWFS stands for International Wine and Food Society. Some of you may know about the existence of this Association which, apparently, is very active all over the world. It was created in 1933 during the Great Depression by a Frenchman who was the representative in the U.K. of the firm, Champagnes Pommery. According to Raymond, the IWFS and IAPL shared an important purpose, promoting international understanding and friendship, not however, through legal knowledge, but through food and wine considered as an art! Raymond and others have tried to maintain IAPL's standards in this regard and with much success, it must be said, judging by the high culinary standards attained at IAPL conferences.

It was on the occasion of one of the meetings of the IWFS that Raymond met Jim Spears, a British Chartered Accountant practicing in Paris and also a member of an international or-ganization called IAPA, standing for the International Association of Practising Accountants. This name inspired the origin of our name.

The next step was Spears telling Raymond that he knew a Dutch lawyer who planned to cre-ate a sister association in the legal field. Raymond then met Bob Van der Goen (the Nether-lands), Philippe Schnadt (Switzerland) and Peter Harrington (Great Britain) who were pre-pared to start this new Association. Raymond was quite happy to join them and after discus-sions, the final by-laws were signed in Zug on the 16th August of 1982, a canton of Switzer-land, which is where the offices of Markus Zwicky (former Secretary) and Rainer Riek (cur-rent Secretary) are located.

The Association grew and developed but it has had its ups and downs. One such ebb occurred probably in the early nineties. The IAPL almost disappeared after the decision of two Italian members, who had volunteered to take charge of organising the Annual General Assembly, but surrendered their mandate a few weeks before the meeting, and resigned. That year, there was no general meeting. Some current members may remember this unfortunate occurrence.

Perhaps this kind of experience has impressed itself on all of us who try to solicit the mem-bership and commitment of new members. We know how important members are. We rely on them in our professional work that we may share or refer to them do. We also regard them as friends in distant lands with whom we develop warm social ties. Thus, we are also a group of friends and often get together outside the framework of IAPL.

Noteworthy in IAPL's history is the fact that the 25th Anniversary AGM in Hong Kong is the first to be held in Asia. The IAPL has met outside Europe before, notably in Boston in 1994 and subsequently in Tunisia and Morocco. These were very successful and memorable events.

Particular tribute shall be paid to Raymond for his many years of leadership, and also to all the Presidents of IAPL, including their Board members with whom they directed IAPL Together they contributed to its success and relative longevity. Special mention is due to Markus Zwicky for his sterling role on behalf of IAPL, which would not be what it is to-day without his contributions and dedication as former IAPL'S secretary-treasurer.