12 January 2018

The Irish Times: Ireland angles to pick up post-Brexit legal business

The initiative by the Bar of Ireland, the professional body for barristers, follows moves to set up English-language courts in Germany, France, Belgiumand the Netherlands as they seek to capture some of the valuable and prestigious legal work from which the UK has long profited.

Financial and professional services experts have voiced concerns that Brexitwill erode the UK’s reputation as a global “jurisdiction of choice” for international law. This could threaten a lucrative source of business for large legal and professional services firms in the City.

“International consumers of UK legal services are already signalling that they will move operations. In that sense, the UK’s departure from the EU creates a real opportunity for Ireland, not only for the legal services but also for the wider economy,” said Paul McGarry, Bar of Ireland chairman.

Legal centre

The UK’s status as an international legal centre hinges on the reputation of its UK’s judiciary and the experience of UK-based law firms in handling cross-border work. In 2016, for instance, 70 per cent of cases in the Commercial and Admiralty Courts - venues for complex business and maritime disputes - involved at least one party based outside England and Wales.

However, Brexit has raised fears that the UK will drop out of a series of European regulations that allow rulings of national courts to be enforced in other member states.

“In two years’ time it is unlikely that the UK will be integrated in the EU legal system and consequently, there is a real risk that the judgments of English courts may not be enforced in member states easily,” Mr McGarry said. “Hard Brexit means that’s a problem.” [...]

Full article on The Irish Times

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