He will work together with vice-president Jörg Menzer and secretary-general Deborah Enix-Ross
Claudio Visco, senior partner at Italian firm Lipani Legal&Tax, has assumed the presidency of the International Bar Association for 2026.
Visco succeeded Jaime Carey on January 1, taking on the leadership role through a novel joint leadership arrangement that saw them split the usual two-year presidential term between them. Visco works with vice-president Jörg Menzer from Noerr and secretary-general Deborah Enix-Ross from Debevoise & Plimpton.
Visco has served as co-vice president, co-secretary-general, Bar Issues Commission chair, BIC Policy committee chair, diversity and inclusion council officer, securities law committee co-chair, and capital markets forum chair. He also chaired the Rome 2018 Annual Conference’s host committee.
He joined the IBA’s management board in 2015.
“I feel honoured and deeply privileged to have been elected president of the International Bar Association and will carry out the duties of this office, as I did for the previous ones, with full dedication, putting my experience to the service of the association,” Visco said in a statement. “Knowing that I am part of a continuum working to uphold the rule of law, access to justice and the independence of the legal profession fills me with pride, but also with a deep sense of responsibility. We are witnessing unprecedented violations of these fundamental principles in jurisdictions where such developments would once have been unthinkable.”
Citing the issues in Afghanistan, Palestine, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, and Venezuela, he stated his intent to collaborate with the United Nations, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Bank, the American Bar Association, the International Association of Lawyers, the International Association of Young Lawyers, the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe, LawAsia, and the European Law Institute on highlighting lawyers as “gatekeepers in defending the core values of our societies.”
Visco indicated that he would focus on broadening the IBA’s presence and engagement across Africa, Asia, Central Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and the Pacific region. He would also concentrate on boosting the IBA’s leadership in substantive law initiatives.
