An English Man in New York by John North, Corporate Department

At the end of October I had a whirlwind couple of days in New York to attend the Interleges Executive Committee meeting. It’s 10 years since I was last in the Big Apple and I was struck by the fact that it seemed even busier than ever with so many people and an incredible amount of traffic.

From the work perspective, we had a successful Executive Committee meeting where we further developed our plans for the conference we are planning for Paris in May 2011 on the commercial aspects of environmental law – particularly issues relating to carbon trading. Our colleagues at Interleges firms in Paris and Sweden are leading lights in this field.

I attended a drinks reception at the New York firm of Anderson Kill & Olick, PC whose 42nd floor offices are in a building on the Avenue of Americas in the extension to the Rockefeller Center, the famous Art Deco complex in Midtown Manhattan. It was interesting to meet the partners there – especially as the firm is amongst the leaders in the area of insurance litigation. Then we had dinner with a few of the partners at famous Italian restaurant Remi – which was excellent.

Whilst in New York, I also had a brief meeting with Daniel Rayner of Rayner Rowe LLP – which is another New York Interleges member – which specializes in corporate law. David is dual qualified in United States and English law. Then the rest of my day was free! So I spent a couple of hours walking back to the hotel via The Metropolitan Museum of Arts – where I particularly admired the Egyptian artworks - and through Central Park.

In the evening a special treat – I went with lawyers from Interleges firms in Dublin and Zurich to Birdland, the jazz landmark club established in 1949 by Charlie "Yardbird" Parker.

The weather in New York was beautiful so it was a bit of a shock when I returned to the freezing conditions in London.