International Bar Association ("IBA") 17th Annual Bar Leaders' Conference was held in Bucharest, Romania, in May 2024. Brain Trust International Law Firm's Managing Partner, Hung OU YANG, was invited by Ken Murphy, Chair of the IBA's Bar Issues Commission, to deliver a speech. The topic is "What should bars and law societies do during national elections? Heads down or speak up? How can you participate with impact on important issues without being seen as politically partisan?"

"We have to speak up, with a hope that we could be part of the global voice of the legal profession, in support of rule of law and democracy", Hung said. 

Hung is the first Taiwan lawyer being invited to deliver a speech in IBA's Annual Bar Leaders' Conference. His comments on the roles of bars and law societies with regard to rule of law were immediately echoed by Nuhad Ponce Kuri, President of the National Bar Association of Corporate Lawyers. The other three noted panelists, Anne Ramberg (Stockholm, Sweden; IBAHRI Co-Chair, IBA's Human Rights Institute), Deborah Enix-Ross (Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, New York), Ian Jeffery (The Law Society of England and Wales), all shared the same ideas.  Ken Murphy, Chair of Bar Issues Commission of IBA, was the moderator in that session. 

From left to right: Ian Jeffery (The Law Society of England and Wales), Deborah Enix-Ross (Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, New York), Ken Murphy (Chair of Bar Issues Commission, IBA), Anne Ramberg (Stockholm, Sweden; IBAHRI Co-Chair, IBA's Human Rights Institute), Hung OU YANG, Managing Partner of Brain Trust International Law Firm.