Martin Bowdery QC and Mathias Cheung discuss the position of UK courts and legal services in a post-Brexit world in the light of the Judiciary’s recent memorandum:
As the Brexit negotiations enter the fifth round of talks, the UK and the EU’s focus will be turning to the mutual recognition of legal qualifications and ‘close and comprehensive arrangements for civil judicial co-operation’ in cross-border legal disputes. Whilst these outward-looking frameworks would shape the UK’s interaction with other European jurisdictions, it is worth taking a brief moment to look at the position on the home front – will the unique strengths and qualities of the UK’s courts and legal services persist in their own right after Brexit?
To this end, the Judiciary of England and Wales (with the support of the Bar Council, COMBAR, TECBAR, CHBA, the Law Society, the City London Law Society, and TheCityUK) has recently published a memorandum entitled ‘English Law, UK Courts and UK Legal Services After Brexit’, which comprehensively answers that question. Six key points can be distilled from the memorandum and are worth bearing in mind by practitioners and clients alike:
None of the above should come as a surprise to lawyers and clients familiar with the UK’s legal system and legal services. The Chancellor of the High Court, Sir Geoffrey Vos, expressed this succinctly when speaking in Edinburgh: ‘however uncomfortable Brexit may become for lawyers, English law will remain a popular choice if not the gold standard. I say this because of its well-regarded and well-developed predictability, certainty, flexibility and commerciality.’
As practitioners of the London Bar, we see both UK and international clients continuing to seek out our specialist advice and services in commercial/construction dispute resolution and international arbitrations; English law is still the most popular governing law globally, and London is set to play a unique role in substantial cross-border projects like China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
None of these persisting strengths can be taken for granted, of course, and our legal profession would always have to keep itself up-to-date and relevant to the modern market. As far as Brexit is concerned, however, it is fair to say that there is little if any direct impact on the robustness of the UK’s legal system and legal services. As the former Lord Chief Justice, Lord Thomas, confidently declared in a speech back in April 2017: ‘Brexit will have no effect on London’s key strengths… London remains and will remain to the fore as a centre of international dispute resolution.’
Martin Bowdery QC practises as an advocate, arbitrator, mediator and adjudicator in construction and engineering disputes, and has been involved in many high profile cases in this sector.
In recent years he has appeared in the High Court, the Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court and before various international arbitral tribunals. He has had numerous appointments as an arbitrator in ICC arbitrations and as an adjudicator and as an expert determinator. He sits as a Deputy High Court Judge of the Technology and Construction Court. Martin is a fellow of the Dispute Board Federation and in 2015 he was elected Chair of TECBAR.
His principal areas of expertise are construction, engineering and professional negligence disputes arising out of major capital projects including power stations, major offshore facilities, bridges, motorways, railways, tunnels, dams, reservoirs, airports, commercial, chemical, and other heavy engineering projects, computer systems and commercial buildings of all sorts. He acts for and against all parties to the construction process, including foreign and domestic government departments, owners, employers, architects, engineers, surveyors, project managers, contractors, subcontractors and insurers.
Mathias’ practice covers all areas of Chambers’ work, including construction, engineering and infrastructure, energy and utilities, information technology, and professional negligence. In addition to these specialist areas, he has gained experience in a wide range of commercial disputes, including cases on fraud, insurance, assignment, subrogation, and conflicts of law. Mathias is also the winner of the SCL Hudson Prize 2015 for his essay entitled ‘Shylock’s Construction Law: the Brave New Life of Liquidated Damages?’.
As a native of Hong Kong, Mathias is fluent in both Cantonese and Mandarin, and he is therefore able to take instructions for cases involving Chinese-speaking parties and Chinese documentation in Hong Kong, Mainland China, Singapore and other jurisdictions.
This paper was written by James Howells QC for the Society of Construction Law (Singapore)…
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