Bar hits out at Brexit plans

The ‘disappointing’ Brexit White Paper could lead to a scenario where lawyers on EU soil lose their right to advise on EU law or even on UK law, the Bar Council has warned.

This would leave UK businesses unable to rely on their usual UK lawyers and forced to hire lawyers from the EU instead. Meanwhile, barristers from England and Wales would be unable to defend the UK government, UK businesses or UK citizens in any proceedings before the European Court of Justice.

In its hard-hitting response to last week’s White Paper, the Bar Council further warned that the UK professions would be left in the margins, making it harder for them to maintain or extend their market share. Consequently, the UK risked losing not only the tax revenue but also the influence and ‘soft power’ generated by the legal services sector in Europe and internationally.

The Bar Council stated: ‘Unless the government can explain how a binding EU-wide regulatory framework for legal services could be agreed in an FTA context, the legal professions in the UK would be left to negotiate different bilateral agreements (at a political and/or bar association level) covering the provision of legal services with many of the other 27 (or 30, including EEA) member states.

‘Even if successful, this would provide only a patchwork of rights and obligations, varying from country to country. All this will take many years, if it can be accomplished at all, and in the meantime UK clients will face additional difficulties and cost in ensuring access to justice in their dealings with the EU/EEA.’

Four amendments by pro-Brexit MPs to the Taxation (Cross-border Trade) Bill have succeeded in the Commons, watering down the White Paper’s proposals. They include that the UK is prevented from collecting tariffs on behalf of the EU unless there is a reciprocal arrangement, and that it be prevented from joining the EU’s VAT regime.

Aline Doussin, a London-based trade partner in the Hogan Lovells Brexit Taskforce, advised businesses to plan for ‘full implementation of the Union Customs Code, and take full advantage of the available trusted trader schemes for trades with the EU27. In parallel, the impact of the withdrawal of the UK from the EU internal market on services should be carefully reviewed and planned for, for all traders of services, not just financial ones’.