'Arrogant' City could hand advantage to Europe

City lawyers' arrogance is pushing legal work away from London and into the hands of competitors around Europe - and problems with the Commercial Court are exacerbating the issue, a high-powered conference heard this week.

Speaking at the conference he organised on London as a global legal centre, Gavyn Arthur, the first barrister Lord Mayor, said lawyers and the common law were vital to London's financial success.

But he warned that the Commercial Court's quality was essential to London's future as a global legal centre, and said there is evidence that alternative dispute resolution work is 'trickling away to Paris',

He added: 'It is absurd that there are English cases being conducted by English lawyers in Paris.'

The Lord Mayor said that evidence of a drain of legal work from London is being collated.

He said most of it is anecdotal and based on 'consistent mumbling', but complaints from foreigners using legal services in London was 'reaching a crescendo'.

He added: 'Once they [foreign clients] start to leave, they'll do so in droves, which will only encourage our rivals.'

The cost of City lawyers was also raised as a disincentive, but Tim Taylor, a litigation partner at City firm SJ Berwin, said: 'Costs may be a problem, but there is also a huge sense of cultural arrogance amongst US and UK lawyers.

Stockholm and Geneva are considered to be more neutral jurisdictions.'

Michael Brindle, chairman of the Commercial Bar Association, said the facilities in the Commercial Court give an impression of neglect and indifference by the authorities 'which is most regrettable and bound to be damaging'.

Plans for a new court have moved slowly.

The Attorney-General, Lord Goldsmith, told delegates that without lawyers, London's financial services industry would not be as attractive, but added: 'We cannot assume that the common law will continue to dominate international contracts.'

See Editorial, (see [2003] Gazette, 22 May, 14)

Jeremy Fleming