If prizes were doled out for placing backside on fence and balancing precariously in the great UK EU membership debate, then the esteemed English legal profession would walk away with a barrel-load of whatever equivalent to shining Oscar the organisers could afford.
As British Prime Minister David Cameron last week blasted the opening shots on years of fevered speculation about the UK’s European future, the two main branches of the country’s legal profession effectively dived for cover in an attempt to avoid getting caught in the cross fire.
Europe needs a dose of wholesale reform, lectured Mr Cameron, and not just to keep Euro-sceptics in Britain sweet, but for the good of the entire union. Come what may, UK punters will be given a vote on staying in the Euro club, if Mr Cameron has any influence over the next British government. And if Brussels plays ball on his reform proposals, he’ll throw his ‘heart and soul’ into backing the ‘yes’ campaign. If Brussels and the other 26 member states dig their toes in or actively wave two fingers at the British PM, well, then, no-one is quite sure what he’ll do.
Invasion
Despite individual Britons’ views of Europe, there is no avoiding that over the last 40 years the country has become woven into the union’s fabric – and perhaps no profession has become more ‘European’ than the legal sector. City of London law firms launched an invasion of the continent the best part of two decades ago, with the fall-out being massively enhanced bottom lines for those practices and a minor revolution for the more sedate and traditional European jurisdictions. Even the normally arcane English barristers’ profession has become European, with some chambers actually opening on the continent.
On such a relevant issue, it would be fair to expect English lawyers and their representatives to respond to Mr Cameron’s referendum proposal in a red-blooded and forthright manner. But the Bar Council’s recently elected chairwoman, Maura McGowan QC, opted for textbook discretion in a statement to The Post at the end of last week. ‘The bar is a global profession and for many years barristers’ services have been in high demand all over the world,’ she started with the type of caution with which she intended to continue.
‘Barristers advise extensively both in Brussels and across the EU on European law,’ carried on Ms McGowan, bagging points for stating the company line, before flirting briefly with the relevant topic: ‘The prime minister recognises the important role which the United Kingdom plays in the European Union and that is reflected by the important role of the English Bar in European courts and legal proceedings.’
And that was pretty much it for the bar’s response.
Uncertainties
The Law Society -- which represents the vast majority of lawyers in England -- performed slightly better, but not much. ‘UK membership of the European Union has brought enormous benefits to solicitors, law firms and their clients, most particularly through the ability to trade, provide services and establish across the EU and to seek effective redress to cross-border legal issues,’ the body’s president, Lucy Scott-Moncrieff, told The Post, in what seemed like a bid to out-do the bar in a state-the-obvious competition.
But then Ms Scott-Moncrieff tackled the issue head on: ‘The Law Society welcomes David Cameron’s statement that continuing access to the single market is vital to British businesses and British jobs, as much as maintaining our say in the setting of EU rules. However, the commitment to an in/out referendum on the basis of hypothetical renegotiations of the EU settlement brings with it a host of uncertainties. Legal uncertainty is of obvious concern to lawyers, but so too is economic uncertainty, which impacts both them and their clients, as individuals, businesses or investors.’
If the national legal body representatives were reluctant to poke their heads too far above the parapet on the Euro-referendum issue, at least the group putatively representing all the continent’s lawyers was more robust. Writing in his regular blog for London-based weekly newspaper, the Law Gazette, Jonathan Goldsmith, secretary general of the Council for the Bars and Law Society of the EU, went on the front foot.
Aunt Sallies
Mr Goldsmith said the legal sector was one in which Brussels had been an enthusiastic and positive reformer, highlighting reviews currently on the evolution and regulation of cross-border practice and judicial systems, as well as the impact of England’s new alternative business structure regime.
‘It should not need pointing out,’ summarised Mr Goldsmith, ‘that the legal services group which will doubtless benefit most from these various measures are solicitors of England and Wales, who have already taken advantage of the single market to grow their presence in most, if not all, European countries.
‘This does not look to me like a sector which needs to be shamed into action by the prime minister. Of course, legal services might be exceptionally active in just those fields that the prime minister highlights as being necessary for the UK to agree to stay. Or the prime minister might be creating Aunt Sallies for purposes not related to the functioning of the EU but rather to the needs of his own party.’
At last, some tough talking from the legal profession back at Mr Cameron.
Post staff reporter James Barnes also contributed to this article
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