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14 August 2019
Issue: 7853 / Categories: Legal News , Brexit , EU , Legal services , Profession
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Stark choice for law firms under no deal

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Law firm owners or co-owners with EEA or EFTA qualifications will need to re-qualify, re-register or restructure their business before Brexit if the UK leaves with no deal, the government has warned.

Registered European lawyers (RELs) have until December 2020 to do the same.

The Ministry of Justice published a short online advice sheet for lawyers last week, titled ‘Guidance for legal services business owners on preparing for a no deal Brexit’.

It stated that RELs or lawyers with qualifications from the EU, Norway, Iceland or Liechtensein (EEA-EFTA) who wish to continue ownership of a legal services business in England, Wales or Northern Ireland must choose one of three options.  They must requalify in the UK, become a Registered Foreign Lawyer, or ‘make the necessary changes to their practice or business structure to comply with the new regulatory arrangements’.

EU, EEA and Swiss citizens can continue to be employed without needing to prove their right to work until 1 January 2021. 

Issue: 7853 / Categories: Legal News , Brexit , EU , Legal services , Profession
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NLJ this week: Renters’ Rights revolution begins—brace for tribunal chaos
he abolition of assured shorthold tenancies and section 21 evictions marks the beginning of a ‘brave new world’ for England’s rental sector, writes Daniel Bacon of Seddons GSC
NLJ this week: Civil procedure gets a spring overhaul
Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way column rounds up a flurry of procedural and regulatory changes reshaping housing, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and personal injury litigation
NLJ this week: Why GP complaints are going nowhere
Patients are being systematically failed by an NHS complaints regime that is opaque, poorly enforced and often stacked against them, argues Charles Davey of The Barrister Group
NLJ this week: Prenups meet a jurisdictional brick wall
A wealthy Russian divorce battle has produced a sharp warning about trying to challenge foreign nuptial agreements in the wrong English court. Writing in NLJ this week, Vanessa Friend and Robert Jackson of Hodge Jones & Allen examine Timokhin v Timokhina, where the High Court enforced Russian judgments arising from a prenuptial agreement despite arguments based on the landmark Radmacher decision
NLJ this week: Has Rylands v Fletcher come back from the dead?
An obscure Victorian tort may be heading for an unexpected revival after a significant Privy Council ruling that could reshape liability for dangerous escapes, according to Richard Buckley, barrister and emeritus professor of law at the University of Reading
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