Law Society describes UK-EU summit as “welcome starting point”

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The Law Society has called the recent UK-EU summit a “welcome starting point” in rebuilding post-Brexit ties. President Richard Atkinson highlighted the proposed youth mobility scheme, which will potentially enable young lawyers to train and work freely across Europe.

According to the BBC, the summit marks the biggest reboot since the UK left the EU officially in 2020, with agreements reached in key areas including fishing, trade, defence and energy. Atkinson emphasised the importance of ensuring “our relationship with the EU, our biggest export market for legal services, continues to evolve”.

As part of the new deal, the UK and EU agreed to work together on a "youth experience scheme". While still subject to further negotiation, the scheme "could see young people able to work and travel freely in Europe again" but would be "capped and time-limited". The programme would be similar to existing schemes the UK has with Australia and New Zealand, where there’s an annual quota for visas that allow 18-to-35-year-olds to work in each other’s countries. Negotiations also include the UK rejoining the Erasmus+ programme, which allows students to study or do an internship abroad.

The Law Society has previously called for an expansion of the activities permitted to short-term business travellers in the EU. Atkinson has emphasised the need for “better business mobility” to keep the UK competitive by allowing “UK lawyers [to] train and work in the EU with as few barriers as possible”.

Following the summit, Atkinson commented: “Improving business mobility between the UK and the EU continues to be the key priority for the legal profession. Far from being about free movement of people, it contributes not only to the strength of the legal sector but of the whole UK economy, benefiting British businesses and people alike. We look forward to working with the government on a work experience scheme that would allow younger lawyers under 35 to train and work in the EU for up to three years.”

However, Atkinson stated his concerns: “Under the current EU-UK trade agreement, there is no real recognition of professional qualifications for UK professionals working in the EU. We believe a substantive renegotiation of these provisions is needed as the current set-up has failed to deliver a single agreement for the recognition of professional qualifications in the four years since it came into force.”

He also highlighted the Law Society’s commitment to improving UK lawyers’ access to legal markets across the world “to boost the standing of the UK as a global legal powerhouse”.

Other elements of the deal will bring about changes for a number of business areas. Changes include:

• a new deal to allow EU boats continued access to UK waters until 2038;
• a £360 million "fishing and coastal growth fund" to invest in new equipment;
• the significant reduction of routine checks on food shipped to and from the UK and the EU;
• a formal UK-EU defence and security pact;
• expanded access for British holidaymakers to use more e-gates at European airports; and
• the linking of UK and EU carbon markets to reduce tax on shipments of goods like steel and cement.