How law firms see election implications - The Times

How law firms see election implications - The Times


By Edward Fennell - 16 April 2015

The publication of party manifestos this week enables lawyers to look hard at the implications of what is being proposed — not least because with no clear winner likely, the jitters among clients are now tangible.

For Herbert Smith Freehills it is the possibility of an EU referendum and subsequent Brexit that looms large. “There would be an enormous challenge if we were to leave,” the firm’s Gavin Williams says. “There would be the prospect of huge gaps opening up in our legislative framework in fields such as financial services regulation, health and safety and environmental protection, intellectual property, consumer protection and employment rights as many ‘European’ laws underpinning our own could fall away.

Meanwhile, assuming new laws would be passed in the UK to fill the gap, companies would need to comply with two sets of rules if they did business on the continent. The level of regulation would actually increase, not diminish, and compliance costs could soar.” Already this is generating plenty of queries. “Clients are taking it very seriously,” the firm’s Dorothy Livingston says. “The status both of London as a financial centre and of the UK as an attractive place to do business could change dramatically.”

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