Europe has rarely been out of the headlines as a political issue in this country.

Some might think lawyers would prefer to steer clear of arguments over the single currency or border controls; Philip Wareham, newly elected chairman of the Solicitors European Group, disagrees.'I do not think we should simply be looking at the latest Directive on axle weights of lorries.

We are entitled to look at the broader impact of Europe -- a bit like our founding fathers did in 1967 when they set up the group.'Every practitioner who has to live with EU law is very affected by the constitutional aspects.

They determine the sort of Directives we are going to get, which in turn shape our national legislation.'Mr Wareham, a partner at City firm Holman, Fenwick & Willan, says enlargement of the EU rather than the single currency has emerged as the main theme for next year's inter-governmental conference.'Enlargement is all things to all men.

For the broadeners it is a lighter form of institutional control from the centre.

The view from Whitehall is that you cannot have a large community of 25 member states with a highly centralised form of government from Brussels.

The deepeners take the opposite view -- that if you do not have a solid centre, like the Holy Roman Empire, the edifice will simply disintegrate.'Moving from more general issues to those of particular interest to solicitors, Mr Wareham emphasises the need for reform of the European court system.'The 177 procedure is of direct concern to English lawyers.

At the moment it takes between 18 and 20 months to get a ruling in Luxembourg.

Anything that can be done to speed that process up, and separate the bad from the good cases, is to be welcomed.'Despite a recent survey by the European Commission showing widespread lack of knowledge of EU law amongst lawyers, Mr Wareham does not believe English and Welsh lawyers are particularly ignorant.'I do not think we do that badly in the UK.

English lawyers have a particular problem.

We do not have a written constitution and, unlike the Irish and the Dutch, English solicitors are not therefore trained to go behind the legislation and criticise its underlying legal basis.'One developme nt which should help push English lawyers higher up the knowledge table is the arrival of EU law as a compulsory subject at the academic stage and an integral part of the LPC course.'The SEG has been campaigning about this for years,' Mr Wareham says.

'I want to take up from where that has left off.

There are views being expressed that people are throwing EU law in as an extra course just because they have to, without really taking care to structure the course or to give an understanding of how it is used in practice.'We need to take that up with the Law Society, see if we can help in any way in developing minimum standards and a system to monitor them.'Another area Mr Wareham is very keen on is the new Law Society diploma in EU law.

Aimed principally at assistant solicitors, the first diplomas may be awarded by the end of next year.'Rather like the LPC, the diploma in EU law will be subcontracted with minimum standards maintained by the Law Society, which will also vet the course providers.

It is welcome because if you start at the bottom in inculcating an EU habit, then there is a fair chance it will filter through.

If they do not know the answer, people will at least be able to spot the problem.'Turning to professional issues, many international practices in the City are concerned that their freedom to work across the frontiers of Europe should not be hindered by excessively protective national Bar associations.

'We are looking at the difficulties in setting up multinational practices and the hindrances to UK solicitors practising as UK solicitors,' says Mr Wareham.

'The establishment Directive was the subject of a CCBE (Local Bars and Law Societies of the European Union) draft which has largely been adapted by the Commission.'The current proposal on the table is certainly unsatisfactory.

It represents, like so much legislation, a compromise between different interests, and would oblige solicitors practising under their [home] title to convert to host title within five years of practising abroad.

'That is fine in theory and it may be that after five years it would be no bad idea for a solicitor to acquire local title, but it is an unnecessary step.

If you spend all your days in Brussels advising on a diet of English law and EU law you do not need to know about Belgian law.

'I am not sure it is in the local Bar's interests to insist on foreign lawyers acquiring local title.

The ability of foreign lawyers to refer local cases to local lawyers must benefit the local Bars.'Mr Wareham does not believe the big City firms will have any problems getting their staff through the exams set by local Bars.

Indeed, the limit of five years might be welcomed by those solicitors who want to practise on the continent without taking foreign exams and are only interested in a limited stay.

But Mr Wareham does believe the whole rationale behind such a restriction is questionable.'Those who want to stay long term and find there is a need to qualify under host title will effectively go and do it -- there is no need to oblige them.

If the only benefit is the ability to put a sign saying "avocat" on the door, then so what? Your client tends to come to you for what you know and for the confidence they have in you as an English solicitor, not a local solicitor.'At home, solicitors will increasingly see the intrusion of EU legislation into new areas of English law.'We are going to have that increasingly with new legislation coming into traditional UK statutory fields.

We have had commercial agency agreements and since then the trad e marks legislation, which will require a completely new approach to trade mark infringement actions -- a European-based approach, where trade mark lawyers have to read their Benelux trade mark cases to understand how the courts think.'Another area which is going to come under the microscope and be heavily influenced by EU law is unfair contract terms.

A lot has been written about the European unfair contracts legislation.

It goes much further than UCTA and is much broader in scope.

'The European dimension is an aspect of the case which needs looking at, whether you are looking at litigation or a commercial agreement.

It is no more or no less dispensable than the tax aspects of a transaction.'After the SEG's recent annual conference in Brussels, Mr Wareham is looking forward to running a year of seminars to help ensure the European dimension is appreciated.