The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.
All Official Reports of meetings in the Debating Chamber of the Scottish Parliament.
All Official Reports of public meetings of committees.
Displaying 1830 contributions
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Meeting date: 31 October 2024
Stephen Kerr
That is a transparency issue.
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee
Meeting date: 31 October 2024
Stephen Kerr
So, it is all theoretical, because without the ability to invoice, there is no point in going.