It is often said that leading lawyers is like trying to herd cats. Trying to lead 18 different feline ‘herds’ through a period of immense uncertainty and external scrutiny looks like a task that even King Solomon would have second thoughts about.

But that is the job facing the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) and its current president Helge Jakob Kolrud (right), a partner at Norwegian law firm Haavind Vislie.