As the UK heads to the polls for the general election, senior legal figures provide their views on the current mood in the City.
TAXING ISSUE
‘There is an undercurrent of disenchantment. People have gone through a period when living standards have been static or have even fallen in real terms. They are upset and worried about the future. They are worried about the future of the economy, the health service and what’s going to happen with education, and why their children can’t afford a house. But saying we will introduce a mansion tax is not the answer.’
David Ereira, finance partner, Linklaters
LED BY THE NOSE
‘I’m worried that, by promising a repatriation of powers from Brussels and raising expectations, you’ve set yourself up for people to vote against staying in the EU. We’re sleepwalking towards a Brexit.’
Lord Goldsmith QC, London co-managing partner and chair of European and Asian litigation, Debevoise & Plimpton
DIVERSE ATTRACTIONS
‘The debate about capping non-EU immigration is a problem for London. If London wants to be a global city, it needs to be diverse – not just gender but geographically as well. We need to have a balance of people who have deep experience of non-EU markets working in London.’
Charlie Geffen, chair of London corporate, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
BLOCK TO TRADE
‘People see the UK as an attractive place to invest as a gateway to the EU, especially in countries like the US and China. You may lose some investment if you are less of a gateway to Europe. Some companies may move their headquarters.’
David Patient, managing partner, Travers Smith
HELPING HAND
‘It would be great if we could restore some of the public financial support for those in need of legal advice who cannot afford it. We don’t do legal aid work, but firms like ours are having to fill in some of the gaps that have been created as a result of people not being able to get funding. Realistically though, this is not going to happen because the funds are not there.’
Nicholas Cheffings, chair, Hogan Lovells
NON-DOM NO-GO
‘Within a few hours of the non-dom announcement, we had clients asking questions about the implications. The problem we had was that at the time there was very little detail, which has created a whole lot of uncertainty. There is not much “independence” in this debate – people either believe the resident non-doms add to the UK’s economy or they don’t. One potential scenario is that London might lose its position as the city the wealthy most want to live in.’
Ashley Crossley, chair, Europe and Middle East wealth management practice, Baker & McKenzie
PROTECTING THE VULNERABLE
‘It is important that any new government urgently looks at the impact of both the civil and criminal legal aid cuts. Our biggest concern is to protect access to justice, especially for the more vulnerable in our society. We understand that any political party is going to continue to pursue austerity measures. However, we will make the case that the government needs to protect access to justice for its citizens. We run the risk that the erosion of access to justice in this country will start to undermine the reputation of the UK as a centre of legal excellence, which will damage our reputation internationally.’
Catherine Dixon, chief executive, The Law Society
BACK TO SQUARE ONE
‘If you suddenly unplug the UK from a whole raft of European legislation covering lots of things like financial services regulation, product liability, health and safety, employee rights, intellectual property – a very big area here – it would have the potential to leave a huge gap with which could come great uncertainty and an enormous legislative burden. There would be a need to reproduce rules and that could lead to divergence of rules in the UK from those that exist in Europe. All of our clients would have to increase their resources to ensure they comply with these rules, whether it’s about how they package their food or how they protect their trade marks.’
Gavin Williams, corporate partner, Herbert Smith Freehills
REFERENDUM MYTH
‘The fact that we are a multicultural society is brilliant. Being part of Europe is a good thing. But now the cat is out of the bag. The pressure will be growing for [an EU referendum] whoever is in power. But will it bring an end to the issue? Has the Scots referendum brought it to an end? No.’
Simon Levine, global co-chief executive, DLA Piper