Posted 16th December 2016
Brexit could undermine London’s status as a highly profitable international legal centre, according to the Bar Council, which represents barristers in England and Wales.
The Government must put the public interest at the heart of its Brexit strategy, the Bar Council has warned as it publishes the Brexit Papers, written by members of the Brexit Working Group set up by the Bar Council to examine the range of complex issues arising from Brexit and to help the Government identify the legal and constitutional priorities.
Led by the Chair of the Brexit Working Group, Hugh Mercer QC, the group has drawn on the combined expertise and experience of the profession across a wide range of practice areas. Mercer said: “EU law currently impacts nearly all areas of life. We need a plan to make sure that people do not suffer from uncertainty and ultimately end up worse off. If we are going to minimise the adverse impacts on UK citizens, a huge number of highly technical areas of law need looking at in fine detail.”
The Bar Council did not take a position on leaving or remaining in the EU. Chairman of the Bar, Chantal-Aimée Doerries QC said: “There has not been a more profound legal and constitutional challenge in living memory with which the UK Government has had to grapple, in terms of legal complexity, or significance for the long-term health and stability of the economy…Our interest is in helping to ensure that Brexit delivers the best deal possible for Britain.”
The report refers to cases in which claimants are being advised not to choose English jurisdiction clauses in their contracts where previously they would have been almost an automatic choice. Some cases that would normally be launched in England are being started in other EU jurisdictions due to uncertainty over the ultimate enforceability of English judgments.
According to the ‘Guardian’, the UK legal services market generates £25.7bn a year in revenue and employs 370,000 people. It produced £3.3bn of net export revenue last year. In the short to medium term Brexit may benefit lawyers whose legal advice is sought in a period of uncertainty, but the long-term prospects are not as good.
Peter Wilding, the man credited with inventing the term Brexit in 2012, said “This is not stopping Brexit, this is shaping it. The country demands a win-win, smart Brexit, not a lose-lose ideological hard Brexit which will damage the UK, damage Europe and for which there is no need and no mandate.”
The Law Society welcomed the bar’s Brexit Papers publication, which it said echoes positions set out by Chancery Lane in the wake of the referendum vote. Law Society president Robert Bourns said that: “Throughout this year the bar and the solicitor profession have been engaging with the government to examine the ramifications of Brexit, and put robust information before ministers, parliamentarians and officials.”
Hugh Mercer said “There is a great deal of work to be done. The resources of the Brexit Working Group, as well as those of the Bar Council and the Bar as a profession, are being made available to the Government, parliamentarians and the media, as well as to the public, so that Brexit delivers the best deal possible for Britain.”
The full text of The Brexit Papers can be found at:
http://www.barcouncil.org.uk/media/508513/the_brexit_papers.pdf
This blog was written by:
Mike Gribbin
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