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Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 22 December 2024
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Displaying 1830 contributions

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Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee

Review of the EU-UK Trade and Co-operation Agreement

Meeting date: 31 October 2024

Stephen Kerr

I will quickly go back to Dr Marks. You said that solicitors who are based in Scotland and are used to flying in and out have, in the period since Brexit, established a way of working around all this where they need to, whether in relation to visas or whatever, but that there are still things that can be improved.

Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee

Review of the EU-UK Trade and Co-operation Agreement

Meeting date: 31 October 2024

Stephen Kerr

If you are a Scottish business, you will go to your Scottish lawyer, but they will then speak to a French lawyer, for example, and that practice continues, does it not?

Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee

Review of the EU-UK Trade and Co-operation Agreement

Meeting date: 31 October 2024

Stephen Kerr

However, there has always been a significant element of cross-border collaboration, has there not?

Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee

Review of the EU-UK Trade and Co-operation Agreement

Meeting date: 31 October 2024

Stephen Kerr

I will pick up on that point. I am not a lawyer, and I do not quite grasp some of this, so you will have to help. On reciprocation, particularly in relation to Dr Anderson’s comments about right of audience, when we were members of the European Union, was there a high incidence of EU lawyers appearing before British courts? You used the term “a major aspect” in relation to advocates appearing in EU courts.

Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee

Review of the EU-UK Trade and Co-operation Agreement

Meeting date: 31 October 2024

Stephen Kerr

Do they raise it as a nuisance factor or as a real impediment to business?

Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee

Review of the EU-UK Trade and Co-operation Agreement

Meeting date: 31 October 2024

Stephen Kerr

What about members of the Law Society? Dr Marks, what is your response to Professor Collins’s statement?

Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee

Review of the EU-UK Trade and Co-operation Agreement

Meeting date: 31 October 2024

Stephen Kerr

That is clear.

The scale of the issue interests me. I will read out something that Professor Collins sent us:

“Although the incomplete coverage of legal services (both market access and mobility) in the TCA is a cause of concern for some UK lawyers, whether it is a significant practical problem for the UK legal profession as a whole is unclear. The number of UK-qualified lawyers that had been providing advice on EU law or the laws of EU Member States was almost certainly small relative to the size of the profession and the value of transactions, even before Brexit.”

I am not going to ask Professor Collins whether he agrees with that, because he wrote it. Dr Marks and Dr Anderson, do you agree with Professor Collins’s statement?

Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee

Review of the EU-UK Trade and Co-operation Agreement

Meeting date: 31 October 2024

Stephen Kerr

Currently, is it the case that if you fly in to a country with the necessary visa, you can invoice for any work done?

Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee

Review of the EU-UK Trade and Co-operation Agreement

Meeting date: 31 October 2024

Stephen Kerr

That is a transparency issue.

Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee

Review of the EU-UK Trade and Co-operation Agreement

Meeting date: 31 October 2024

Stephen Kerr

So, it is all theoretical, because without the ability to invoice, there is no point in going.