Highlights from the Opening of the Legal Year 2022
The events, which ran from 2 to 5 October, were a fantastic time for our office holders and staff to touch base with over 60 foreign bar leaders from jurisdictions around the world.
The Opening of the Legal Year offers a chance to collectively reaffirm the importance of the rule of law, access to justice and the right to independent legal representation.
We’d like to thank everyone who made it to London to celebrate with us. Here are the highlights:
Europe
Law Society vice president Lubna Shuja met with Belgian bar leaders to thank them for lobbying their government to remove the EU nationality requirement for lawyers looking to qualify in Belgium.
She also discussed the possibility, introduced by recent amendments to the Judicial Code, that UK nationals might be able to use English law degrees to sit the bar exam in Belgium.
Later in the week, Lubna attended a large networking reception at the Embassy of France for French lawyers practising or interested in the jurisdiction of England and Wales.
Americas
President I. Stephanie Boyce and Bar Council chair Mark Fenhalls met with Latin American bar leaders to discuss the launch of UK-Mexico free-trade agreement negotiations and explore the underlying opportunities for the legal profession.
Stephanie Boyce gave the keynote address at LexMex, an annual joint conference we organised in tandem with Mexican Chamber of Commerce in Great Britain.
North Asia and the Pacific
Lubna met with the Korean Bar Association to discuss future collaboration and the upcoming review of the UK-Korea continuity trade agreement.
She also met with the Law Society of Hong Kong to discuss the current system of qualifications for foreign lawyers in Hong Kong and explore areas of potential collaboration.
South Asia and ASEAN
Lubna met with the president of the Malaysian Bar Council Karen Cheah and Richard Wee, an active member, to build on closer collaboration in the legal services sector between the two jurisdictions.