Susan and I had a wonderful week in Turkey. Our purpose in going to Istanbul (our fourth trip to this city we love) was to attend the European summit of the International Network of Boutique Law Firms (INBLF), of which I am a Board member as well as president of our local chapter. The group included members we had met at the Toronto annual meeting in October, at prior annual meetings, or in other travels (including Jan Rolinski, who treated us to a lovely lunch in Warsaw last July). In addition to the formal session, which focused on strategies for branding and marketing the network as a global law firm equipped to provide a full range of legal services throughout the world, there were many opportunities for informal networking, especially dinners on the Bosphorus with breathtaking views of the European and Asian sides of Istanbul. The annual meeting of the group will take place in Paris in September. This was a lovely return to Turkey for us a decade after the Palace of Gold & Light US touring exhibition which we organized through the nonprofit Palace Arts Foundation. Seeing our exhibition poster hanging in the Topkapi Palace was thrilling. After the summit, we did a detour to the surreal landscape of Cappadocia.

 

INBLF European Summit 2011, Istanbul, Turkey

 

Susan and Arnie Lutzker at Topkapi Palace in Istanbul with Palace of Gold & Light exhibition poster