Firms at risk if UK snubs Euro

The competitiveness of commercial law firms in the City could be jeopardised if Britain permanently refuses to join the single European currency, according to a leading corporate solicitor.Guy Morton, head of the financial services group at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, told delegates that the dominant position of City financial lawyers was not currently under threat because there is a view that ultimately the UK will join the Euro.

However, he predicted that if a British government were ever to rule out joining the eurozone permanently, then their current strong position could be threatened.Mr Morton also described the legal ramifications of the euro as being so far insignificant for UK lawyers.

'As a legal issue the euro is not particularly earth-shattering,' he said.

'It's small beer compared with something like the Human Rights Act.

There are some areas of interest to banking lawyers but that is about it.'Fellow City solicitor Victor Semmens agreed.

The former chairman of Eversheds is now responsible for the firm's international practice; he said no fees were being generated at his firm specifically through euro-related work.Lawyers at the session concurred that the importance of the euro was the impact it would have on corporate clients.

Mr Semmens said the still open question was 'whether my clients would be better off inside the euro or whether they could remain successful outside of it'.However, there were some practical implications for law firms.

Mr Morton pointed out that in business terms the elimination of exchange rate fluctuations within the eurozone was 'a huge relief' for a firm such as Freshfields, which since its German merger counts itself as a European practice.Mr Semmens added that the euro eliminated problems relating to profit sharing among lawyers across European jurisdictions.

He said: 'It is now very nice to have a large economic area with one currency.'Jonathan Ames