The Brexit Threat to London's World-Class Legal Business
London's lawyers have thrived on the back of the City. But their primacy may come under threat in areas like the $742 trillion derivatives market.
English common law has thrived in the EU. But the future may be less cheerful.
Photographer: Harold Clements/Hulton ArchiveGlobalization and European integration have been kind to English law, which over the decades has bound together financial systems across the EU and drawn talent, money and energy into the City of London.
There’s a risk now of the reverse happening, as global banks prepare to move thousands of staff and 800 billion pounds ($1 trillion) of assets to the continent because of Britain’s looming departure from the EU. The next post-Brexit target for rival finance hubs like Paris and Dublin will be Britain’s multi-billion-pound legal industry, and the windfall for jobs and tax revenues that it offers.