Step up for Brussels office

The UK Law Societies' joint Brussels office is moving to new and better premises closer to the key decision makers in the EU

The Journal, January 2008, page 30

The Brussels office of the UK Law Societies has moved to larger premises, closer to the European institutions it exists to liaise with.

The new office, in a building formerly occupied by the European Commission legal service, also offers better meeting and IT facilities for solicitors visiting Brussels on business – a service available to solicitors from any part of the UK.

Andrew Laidlaw, Internal Market Policy Adviser in the Brussels office, is confident that the new location will make it easier to carry out the team’s work of providing policy input to EU legislative proposals, and also give the office a higher profile for ordinary solicitors in the UK.

“We know at least some of the bigger firms doing some competition work, and other firms that are maybe involved in environmental law, for instance, have solicitors who come over to Brussels. They may only go over for a day or a couple of days for meetings in the Commission and other institutions, but they can now come and use the facilities here. I think there hasn’t been a lot of awareness about the presence of the office, but it’s in a more convenient place for them now, just round the corner from the Commission’s building.”

The main purpose of the office, however, is to provide the essential on-the-ground contact with EU policymakers at the crucial early stages of policy formation.

“The reason for having an office in Brussels at all is that you’re in a better position to monitor what’s going on, understand what’s going on, build the contacts and influence that you couldn’t do as effectively from Edinburgh – just as when dealing with Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament, you have to actually be there and meet the people and see what’s going on”, explains Sarah Fleming of the Law Society of Scotland’s law reform department. “Having a presence on the ground is crucial: it allows us to sit down face to face with policymakers.”

Intelligence, she adds, is the biggest benefit from having the office. “Unless you know what’s actually happening you can’t comment. The EU produces a vast amount of paperwork. Having an office in Brussels you have people who are in the system, who can give you guidance about what’s important and what’s not important, and can speak to the relevant people in the Commission or the relevant MEPs.”

Following on from that is the opportunity to influence policy. A particularly relevant example for solicitors was the major Services Directive, recently passed for implementation by 2009. “The Services Directive would have had quite a significant impact on the Guarantee Fund and we were able to get MEPs on board, we successfully proposed amendments for it which meant, once adopted, the directive would fit in with our system, and there are quite a few other examples like that”, says Andrew Laidlaw.

And from a Scottish point of view, there is the constant need to ensure that the Scottish legal position is represented and that the UK puts forward more than just the English view. “That is much more important when you’re looking at things like civil justice, criminal justice or succession, for example, which are very much areas of Scots law which are not the same as in England and you don’t want anything to be taken for granted on that”, Sarah Fleming comments. “In the Scottish context this is a kind of coalition of interests; the Scottish Government may often be looking for a strong steer from the profession as to what we think about something because that will allow them to take that into negotiations with the UK Government as regards the UK Government’s line.

“There may be something that looks like a technicality but turns out to be quite important. The question is making the law as good as possible and as effective as possible… So it’s important to influence at all levels.”

Contact details: The Law Societies Joint Brussels Office
Avenue des Nerviens 85
1040 Brussels
Belgium
t: + 32 2 743 8585
f: + 32 2 743 8586
e: brussels@lawsociety.org.uk

The office facilities include a hotdesk office with PC, wifi for laptops, and a meeting room for up to 40 people, with videoconferencing