On Tuesday 10th November, the City of London Corporation and The Law Societies’ Joint Brussels office held a webinar on Securing your access to justice post-2020. The expiry of the transitional period brings to a close the right for UK parties in EU cross-border trade to rely on existing EU instruments – what follows remains to be seen.

Our panel of legal experts outlined the possible scenarios and the implications for financial services. This discussion focused on why accession to the Lugano Convention is the best means by which to ensure access to justice for businesses and consumers, but also the national rules which will apply in the event the EU does not approve the UK’s Lugano application.

The questions dealt with in this webinar were:

  • How does enforcement of judgments support business activities?
  • How are the EU and UK currently seeking to tackle this issue, against the backdrop of ongoing negotiations?
  • Does no FTA mean Lugano is dead-in-the-water?
  • What are the preparations which businesses should be taking for the event that national rules rather than Lugano will apply?
  • What does the Withdrawal Agreement mean for those legal disputes which are ongoing at the end of the year?

Our panellists were:

  • Sarah Garvey, Counsel, Allen & Overy
  • Dr Peter M Werner, Senior Counsel, International Swaps & Derivatives Association
  • Catherine McGuiness, Chair of the Policy & Resources Committee, City of London Corporation