WSG Objectives

Chair's Objectives 2026-2027

Dear WSG Members,

It is a great honor to serve as Chair of World Services Group for 2026–2027. Our approach will be one of continuity, with a clear emphasis: turning the strength of our relationships into even greater value for our clients and more opportunities for our member firms. WSG already brings together outstanding independent firms, global reach, and genuine trust. Our next step is to make that value easier to see, easier to access and easier to activate.

During my term, I intend to focus on the following five objectives:

1. Strengthen Practice Groups as Engines of Collaboration and Referrals

We would like to continue and accelerate the work already under way to strengthen our practice groups. They should be the places where relationships become shared expertise, practical client solutions and new business opportunities. Working with practice group leaders, Regional Councils and headquarters, we should encourage each group to adopt a focused annual agenda centered on a limited number of issues that matter to clients; promote substantive exchanges among active practitioners; and develop at least one meaningful client-facing or cross-border initiative. Where relevant, those initiatives should draw on WSG's distinctive multidisciplinary capabilities, bringing together legal, investment banking and accounting perspectives around the complex issues and transactions that matter most to our clients. The objective is not to hold more meetings. It is to create more useful interaction that leads to referrals, joint mandates, coordinated thought leadership and stronger professional relationships.

2. Advance Technology and Make WSG Easier to Use

WSG has always distinguished itself by the importance it places on technology and the development of its platform. As highlighted on several occasions, new website features are being finalized, with many useful functions that will further support our members. Building on this work, our priority should be to ensure that all functions are consistently easier to see, easier to access and easier to activate. Members should be able to find the tools they need, understand how to use them and put them to work quickly and intuitively.

In particular, we should explore a simple, easily downloadable WSG mobile app designed around the way members actually use the network: identifying the right colleague by jurisdiction, practice or industry; accessing up-to-date contact and capability information; and connecting immediately. The ambition is simple: when a client raises a cross-border issue, the WSG network should be in our pocket and the right person only a few taps away.

3. WSG awards program

We would also like us to establish an annual WSG awards program to recognize member firms that have been particularly active during the year in generating referrals and contributing to projects of special interest or strategic importance to the network. The awards would be presented at the Annual Meeting, with broad visibility both within WSG and externally. By celebrating these contributions and sharing the stories behind them, we can recognize the firms that help our network thrive, encourage wider participation and demonstrate the value of collaboration across WSG.

4. Deepen Participation and Demonstrate Impact

WSG will be strongest when participation extends well beyond a small number of primary contacts. We should continue to invest in the Emerging Leaders Group and create more opportunities for younger partners and senior professionals to participate in practice group leadership, client initiatives, secondments, mentoring and cross-border teams. Each member firm should be encouraged to make WSG more visible internally and to connect the network with the lawyers and professionals most likely to use it. At the same time, I would like us to introduce a concise annual WSG Impact Review, using aggregate measures and short case studies, while fully respecting confidentiality, to demonstrate the value created through referrals, joint pitches, client initiatives, secondments and other collaborations generated through the network. Better evidence of impact will help us improve and demonstrate tangible value to member-firm leadership. We should also recognize, at the Annual Meeting, the firms and professionals who make an outstanding contribution through referrals, cross-border collaboration, client initiatives, innovation and the active involvement of emerging leaders.

5. Shape Our Next Five-Year Strategic Plan Together

WSG’s current five-year strategic plan, approved in 2021, expires this year, and a new plan will need to be approved. We should use this opportunity to reflect together on where our organization has performed well, where it can improve and which challenges we want to take on over the next five years, in an international legal landscape that has changed profoundly.

The preparation of the new strategic plan will be preceded by a survey involving all member firms across the network. Their experience, views and priorities will inform the drafting process, and the resulting plan will be submitted to all members for their consideration ahead of approval. This should be a shared exercise in setting the future direction of WSG, with every member contributing to the choices that will shape our next five years.

Taken together, these initiatives would create a simple WSG Client Impact Cycle: listen to clients, identify shared priorities, build practical solutions, deliver cross-border opportunities and measure the impact we create.

The quality, commitment, coverage and satisfaction of our membership will remain the foundation of all these objectives, and I intend to support the continuing work of the Membership Development Committee in these areas.

These are practical objectives, but they cannot be achieved by the Board or headquarters alone. The value of WSG is created every time a member shares an opportunity, introduces a colleague, invites a client, contributes expertise, or brings the next generation into the network. I look forward to working with all of you to translate connection into even greater client impact.

These are practical objectives, but they cannot be achieved by the Board or headquarters alone. The value of WSG is created every time a member shares an opportunity, introduces a colleague, invites a client, contributes expertise, or brings the next generation into the network. I look forward to working with all of you to translate connection into even greater client impact.

Thank you for your support and for the trust you have placed in me.