It is a sign of the times that the Law Society's European Group (EG) annual conference dinner last week in Brussels clashed with England's quarter-final European Championship football match against Portugal.

Any other solicitors' group might have been reluctant about going up against the 'national' team in the 'national' sport. But the EG is European to its core and England is just one part of the greater whole.


Ian Rose, competition law partner at the London and Brussels offices of US firm McDermott Will & Emery, who takes over as chairman of the EG this month, will be hoping his future will be brighter than that of David Beckham as England captain.


Mr Rose has a stern message for lawyers back in the UK - they ignore the implications of EU law at their peril. And he applies that message equally to solicitors practising in the country's high streets.


'They mustn't underestimate how important the EU is. If they are advising on areas such as environmental law, waste management, health and safety, and employment, then they need to take into account EU law.' Not to do so, he implies, could be to flirt with negligence.


Against the backdrop of the proposed referendum on the new EU constitution, Mr Rose says 'it is a pity that people criticise what is happening on the European scene without giving themselves an opportunity to find out what is going on. Most of what the proposed EU constitution does is consolidate existing law. Where it brings in new law - such as in the fields of human rights and free movement - these are positive moves designed for the protection of individuals. It is by no means a case of signing away sovereignty'.


Mr Rose's main aim for his year in charge of the EG is to increase the group's regional activity in England and Wales, although he acknowledges that the group devotes much of its time to competition issues. 'We have an emphasis on competition law because in London most EU lawyers practise in that field.'



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