The International Bar Association (IBA) acts as the global voice of the legal profession with over 200 jurisdictions and 80,000 members represented.
Stephen has served as an officer on the committee for several years and will, in the period 2025 -2027, co-chair the committee with Kate McMahon, of Edmonds Marshall McMahon.
Stephen has built a specialism in complex multijurisdictional litigation. This includes asset recovery where he acts for companies, natural persons and also governments bringing claims and tracing assts across borders and enforcing judgment. This appointment does much to reflect the fact that Stephen has worked tirelessly with successive attorneys general to craft structures and methods of International asset recovery and repatriation which have been widely adopted elsewhere, which remain functional to this day and which have done much to enhance the reputation of Jersey as an international finance centre.
The Asset Recovery Committee of the IBA exists to provide an international platform for private and public-sector practitioners, civil society, international and regional organisations, policy makers, experts and funders to discuss and develop best practices in asset tracking and recovery.
Stephen commented “Jersey is proven to be progressive and cooperative on the international stage for cross-border proceedings and enforcement. It is important we continue to stay ahead, and to engage with responsible practitioners near and far. The IBA presents a truly global forum to do so. I am pleased to take on this role alongside Kate McMahon, founding partner of Edmonds Marshall McMahon. We look forward to working alongside the committee to advance the rule of law which is of course fundamental to the field of asset recovery”
The focus for Stephen’s tenure in office will be the rule of law. This was the founding theme of the IBA when it was established in the aftermath of WW2 and with a particular aim to promote a rules-based order. The rule of law underpins democracy, human rights, and societal progress. Without it, chaos and corruption can all too easily take root, undermining the very principles that allow societies to thrive. The legal profession must actively defend these principles, educate the public, raise awareness, and hold failing systems accountable.
For over 20 years, Baker & Partners has been at the forefront of some of the most complex and high value offshore commercial and trust litigation. Baker & Partners is unique among offshore law firms in being led by a partnership of very experienced courtroom advocates who have between them conducted a very large number of trials in England, Jersey, the Cayman Islands and the BVI.