Government plans to impose a permanent annual cap on non-EU nationals entering the UK labour market could have a ‘significant detrimental impact’ on the legal sector, the Law Society has warned.

Home secretary Theresa May has announced a consultation process ahead of a permanent annual cap on non-EU immigration, to be implemented in April 2011. In the interim period, from 19 July the United Kingdom Border Agency will introduce measures to reduce the numbers of migrants coming to the UK by 5%.

Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson said: ‘An arbitrary cap on skilled immigration may have a significant detrimental impact on the competitiveness of the UK legal sector. British law firms must be free to employ the best lawyers in the global labour market... Any perception that the English legal market is becoming more closed to overseas lawyers and law firms is (also) likely to result in further restrictions on the ability of UK lawyers to do business abroad.’

National firm Eversheds’ head of national immigration Audrey Elliott said: ‘However the temporary cap is imposed (following the consultation), it is inevitable that employers will need to plan recruitment carefully so that certificates of sponsorship can be issued to priority new hires, or other immigration routes explored.’