On 24 June, Monckton Chambers held a highly topical, ground breaking seminar, chaired by Sir Stephen Laws, on the legal implications of UK exit from the European Union.
The seminar was attended by over 100 lawyers, drawn from City and other law firms, the UK and other Governments and many others.
At the European Council on 25 June, the Prime Minister began the process of seeking renegotiation of the terms of UK membership of the EU.
At the 24 June seminar, expert Monckton practitioners, in anticipation of the first step now taken by the Government ahead of an in-out referendum, had covered many subjects of considerable relevance.
So what lies ahead? The issues covered at the seminar included:
(A) the legal framework within which three of the Government’s key aims will be negotiated (dissociation from “ever closer union”, powers for national parliaments to “block” EU legislation and benefits tourism) and their prospects of success (Christopher Muttukumaru CB):
(B) key concerns in respect of migration and citizenship (Paul Lasok QC);
(C) the implications of enactment of a British Bill of Rights and of possible withdrawal from the ECHR (Ian Rogers QC);
(D) if the UK leaves the EU, what happens next in relation to Procurement Law, Competition Law and regulatory matters including EU cooperation in those fields (Philip Moser QC, George Peretz QC and Anneli Howard);
(E) if the UK leaves the EU, what happens next in relation to free movement of goods, including the merits and de-merits of possible successor arrangements to EU membership (Peter Oliver);
(F) the implications of treaty change and of referendums in other Member States for the overall UK timetable and the instability that will be caused in the interim (Peter Oliver & Christopher Muttukumaru CB).
A further, in-depth seminar will be run in the autumn, while we have our own ideas for the content of the autumn seminar, please do let us have your own suggestions too.