Outlining its wishlist for today’s UK-EU summit, the Law Society has called for a youth mobility scheme that would allow British solicitors under 35 to train and work in the bloc for up to three years.

Establishing a system for the mutual recognition of professional qualifications (MRPQs) would also be a ‘significant improvement’ for UK lawyers who wish to requalify in the EU, says Chancery Lane. Such an agreement was one of three measures identified in Labour’s election manifesto to improve the UK’s trading relationship with the bloc.

During the Brexit negotiations, the Conservative government proposed maintaining MRPQ between the UK and EU. However, this was rejected by the European Commission as the UK did not want to be in the single market. ’The summit provides a significant opportunity to start negotiations in this area,’ the Society added.

Many EU countries still recognise home-title practice: the ability for UK-qualified lawyers to practise in that country under their home qualification. However, not all do and matters were complicated by Brexit, which created a patchwork of 27 national regimes.

The Society defines mutual recognition as the availability of a proportionate path to requalification into another country’s legal profession, more often than not involving taking an equivalent examination on the foreign law and, most likely in the case of the EU, in the official language(s) of the EU member states (i.e. not English) to requalify into the host profession. Mutual recognition is already a live issue in relation to English-speaking common law jurisdictions. The Society believes it would be of interest to some solicitors in relation to the EU.

Such deals have been struck in relation to non-EU countries Switzerland, as well as Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

Along with 50 other organisations, Chancery Lane has been calling for an expansion of the activities permitted to short-term business travellers in the EU. ‘Far from being about free movement of people, business mobility is facilitating trade and is of paramount importance if the UK legal sector is to remain competitive,’ it said.

Society president Richard Atkinson commented: ‘Post-Brexit, UK solicitors have faced significant barriers to working in the EU. As a result, there has been an adverse effect not only on the legal sector but also on UK businesses that rely on seamless legal support across borders. To keep the UK competitive, we are calling for better business mobility to let UK lawyers train and work in the EU with as few barriers as possible.’

Today's summit is the first of its kind since Brexit. Defence, food and agricultural standards, and fish quotas are reported to be high on the agenda.