By Chris Johnson
Law firms are likely to benefit from the United
Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union, according to the main lobby
group for the U.K.’s financial services industry.
A report by TheCityUK says that while Brexit
“amplifies the challenges” faced by the financial sector, the impact of the
recent referendum on the region’s regulatory and legislative landscape could
actually strengthen legal services.
The study also
sets out a number of key steps that will be necessary to ensure London’s
continued position as Europe’s main financial hub, including securing London’s
position as the “world’s legal capital.”
The report
highlights the importance of English law in making the U.K. “the most
international legal sector in the world.” Over a quarter of the world’s 320
legal jurisdictions are founded on English Common Law principles, it says, with
English law used as the governing law in 40 percent of all global corporate
arbitrations. London is the leading center for international arbitration, ahead
of second-place Paris, the report adds, and handles four times as many arbitral
disputes as New York.
“In addition to
continuously improving the U.K.’s legal infrastructure, the industry and the
government should work together to maintain the primacy of English law as the
choice for commercial contracts globally,” the report says.
“As part of this
effort, the U.K. should ensure that English law is highly interoperable with
other legal jurisdictions. This is especially relevant for emerging markets,
where there is the opportunity to cooperate with legal systems as they evolve
and become more international.”
It suggests the
following specific actions:
• Focusing
innovation and infrastructure investment in areas that would reduce the cost
and improve the speed of dispute resolution (e.g., utilizing world-class IT
systems and paperless processes, including around low-cost automated
disclosure), court structures and processes.
• Exploring
collaboration between arbitral organizations and the judiciary.
• Partnering
with government to export U.K. legal and regulatory standards to emerging
markets, which will also facilitate trade and investment.
• Ensuring a
focus on legal services in key opportunities to reduce overseas barriers to
trade, including in developed and emerging market negotiations.
Chris Cummins,
chief executive of TheCityUK, noted that Brexit has served to “amplify the
uncertainty and the urgency” of addressing challenges facing the financial and
related professional services sectors in London.
“We need to act
decisively to create new opportunities, sustain our global strength and the
U.K.’s continued attractiveness,” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment