This briefing responds to the position on the future of the UK's relationship with the European Union (EU) which prime minister David Cameron set out in his speech on 23 January 2013.
- UK membership of the EU has brought enormous benefits to solicitors, law firms and their clients, most particularly through the ability to trade, provide services and establish across the EU and to seek effective redress to cross-border legal issues.
- The Law Society welcomes the prime minister's statement that continuing access to the single market is vital to British businesses and British jobs as much as maintaining the UK's say in the setting of EU rules.
- However, the Society is concerned about the uncertainty resulting from the commitment to an 'in/out' referendum on the basis of hypothetical renegotiations of the EU settlement. Legal uncertainty is of obvious concern to lawyers, but so too is economic uncertainty which impacts both lawyers and their clients – be it as individuals, businesses or investors.