The question of Britain’s potential departure from the European Union has been incredibly divisive in the legal community—but in adding its own two-cents to the debate, the Bar Council has tried to keep its own appraisal of the situation as neutral as possible. A new report entitled ‘EU Referendum: Position of the Bar’, authored by the Bar Council’s EU Law Committee, has warned that British exit would have ‘extremely complex’ regulatory consequences for UK business and governance, some of which cannot be accurately gauged ahead of time. ‘It would be a fundamental change,’ commented report co-author Hugh Mercer QC of Essex Court Chambers to Legal Business. ‘The report aims to set out the facts.’
Words of warning
Though the authors of the report acknowledge that a Brexit scenario would likely produce a ‘bulge’ of work for lawyers in the short run, the report raises concerns that UK lawyers and other professionals could be placed at a disadvantage if they are locked out of negotiations on EU rules and regulations. ‘Were the UK to leave the EU, and if access to the single market meant having to comply with a body of EU rules, it is easy to envisage a context in which UK professionals could rapidly be placed at a disadvantage if the UK had no say in framing future changes,’ the report cautions.
Family law chaos
The report also warns that a British exit could bring ‘disruption and confusion’ to UK family law at a time when family courts are under-equipped to deal with turbulence. Should Britain leave the EU, certain instruments which have brought consistence and stability to UK family law proceedings – such as Brussels II for divorce proceedings and the Maintenance Regulation for maintenance proceedings – could be withdrawn. ‘It would be particularly difficult for the English family courts to cope with at a time when (a) legal aid has been drastically reduced in this field and many more litigants are not legally represented, and (b) the family courts are undergoing and/or adjusting to major structural changes,’ it warns.
Sources: Legal Business; Law Gazette
Email your news and story ideas to: [email protected]
