By David Young-
The Brussels office of the Law Society(pictured) is to close after 31 years at the heart of the city’s EU district. The office, initially representing only England and Wales, opened in 1991 to represent the interests of the solicitors’ profession to EU decision-makers, and to provide advice and information to solicitors on EU legislation and policy developments.
The professional association’s Brussels office which was founded in the 1990’s represents solicitors in negotiations with the European institutions and also helps highlights EU legislation and policies that are relevant to the legal profession and lawyers’ main areas of practice.
Since the Uk left the EU in January 2020 and the end of the Brexit transition period in December 2020, the Brussels team’s workload has dropped while that of the London office’s international team has increased.
The law societies of Scotland and Northern Ireland joined in 1994 and 2000 respectively, at a relatively small cost for various services now to be provided to all three societies by Chancery Lane’s international team in London. The Brussels office will close by November.
The latest discussion in the Uk to ditch part of the Brexit deal is also believed to influenced calculations on all fronts in terms of a cost benefit analysis of keeping the Law Society office in Brexit.
However, the Law society told this publication its main reason for closing its offices is connected to the higher demand fir its resources at its Chancery Lane base at the heart of London.
A Law Society of England and Wales spokesperson said: ‘It is with great sadness that we announce the closure of the Law Society’s Brussels office. Our Brussels team has been an integral part of the Law Society’s influencing work in the European Union for over three decades. Their role during the Brexit transition period was particularly important as the UK sought to leave the EU and establish a new trade relationship.
‘Post-Brexit and post-transition period, however, the UK has third country status and is treated by the EU as any other non-member state, meaning the workload has fallen for our Brussels team and the workload of our international team at Chancery Lane has increased as the UK seeks trade deals with countries outside the bloc. The nature of the UK-EU trade agreement means that the need for a presence in Brussels to be close to the EU institutions is reduced, while the relatively high fixed costs of the office mean a smaller Brussels team would not be economically viable.