Authors:LAG
Created:2016-07-01
Last updated:2023-09-18
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Administrator
Legal profession reacts to Brexit
Representative bodies and firms in the legal sector are trying to think through the consequences of the vote to leave the EU last month. There seems to be a consensus emerging that the vote was only advisory and that parliament will have to take the final decision to leave. Magic circle firm Allen & Overy points out in a briefing note1www.allenovery.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/AO_Brexit_call_24_June_2016_-_summary.pdf that ‘the question posed to the electorate was binary – “in” or “out” – so there is no mandate from voters as to the form that the UK’s relationship with the EU should take on Brexit itself’.
The implications of Brexit on immigration and employment law are discussed in a press release issued by the Law Society.2www.lawsociety.org.uk/news/press-releases/immigration-and-employment-law-implications-of-brexit/ It argues that there is a ‘precedent under international law’ meaning that EU citizens already resident in the UK would have the right to remain. According to the society, much of the UK’s statutory employment rights have their origins in EU law and these ‘protections will not automatically fall away’ when the UK leaves.
The Law Society has also produced a briefing on article 50 of the Treaty on European Union.3www.lawsociety.org.uk/news/stories/brexit-briefing-everything-you-need-to-know-about-article-50/ Until the end of the process outlined in article 50, the society says, the ‘withdrawing state remains a full member of the EU’.
LAG and Legal Action will be publishing a series of articles on the likely impact of the Brexit vote over the coming months.