Beat Eisner, a lawyer from Switzerland, found a local EJ network that was practically asleep and gave it a good shake. Let's hear about his experience rejuvenating an EJ chapter.
When he started paying interest in it in 2009, Beat Eisner thought the Swiss EJ was... very quiet. 'There was an organisation', he explains, 'theoretically there were several members, but no one was really active, they didn't take part in meetings, apart from perhaps two people. But there was no significant presence in practice group days or assemblies'. A situation that Beat was keen to change.
'At first we wanted a new organisation because we wished for new, active members. So we created it and liquidated the older one', explains Beat. 'I found a great partner in Eric Ramel, a lawyer from Lausanne'. This is where the story really begins : 'We were sitting together and we both said we wanted lawyers from all over the country, with at least one law firm from each major region. He is from Lausanne and I am from Basel, so we needed someone from Zurich, Geneva, Bern... We needed people who were eager to participate, including at an international level. We decided we didn't need too many law firms, but all of them should be skilled and mid-sized, and of course willing to take an active role !'
How were they recruited ? 'Sometimes, we spontaneously contacted someone after checking in a directory, but on other occasions we talked with people we knew from past businesses, like we did for our first Zurich member, for example'.
After that, the rest of the process was fluid. 'I remember being at an international congress where we were four Swiss lawyers on a national stand. We were awarded the prize for the best national stand, which was quite amusing for us ! From then on we knew we had a new association that was capable of working. It was quite symbolic for us'.
All in all, Beat Eisner's experience re-building a national network underlines the importance of collaboration. 'My advice, if you want to create such a network, is to do it together with someone else. Find someone who can work on it with you, like a sparring partner. Because it is a lot of work, and it makes it much more fun if you have someone who is also trying to put something together. I have to say we had a lot of support from the EJ International team. But my colleague Eric Ramel was the most helpful of all'.
