High-skilled migration essential for health of UK legal profession

The ability of international firms with UK offices to recruit from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) is crucial if London is to remain a leading global centre for legal services, the Law Society has told the independent government advisory body, the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC). 

The government has instructed the MAC to collect evidence on ways to reduce the migration of skilled workers to the United Kingdom. However, the Law Society has said that firms should be able to recruit skilled people internationally, as this not only keeps firms’ domestic offerings competitive, but also enables firms to take better advantage of emerging markets.

Even looking at the issue beyond the needs of the legal profession, there is a clear case for enabling rather than hindering the migration of skilled workers to this country - the net impact of migration actually brings a small benefit to the UK economy, while taxpaying workers will also be necessary to economically support the country’s aging population. Meanwhile, essential services such as the NHS are utterly dependent on the skills of workers who have arrived from overseas.

Jonathan Smithers, president of the Law Society, expanded on the concerns of City firms: "The legal services sector makes a significant contribution to the UK economy, reaching £22.6 billion in 2013, which equates to 1.6% of UK GDP. Much of the sector’s economic value is generated by international law firms operating in a competitive global marketplace. These firms advise on complex deals spanning multiple jurisdictions and, to do this, they must be able to recruit and deploy teams of lawyers across the world. International employees bring local expertise that is by definition not available in the UK labour market."