Oct 29th 2017, 12:30

A GREAT READ
FOR ALL THOSE WHO REMAIN CONFUSED ABOUT BREXIT - THAT IS ALL OF US!

An appreciation by Elizabeth Robson Taylor of Richmond Green Chambers and Phillip Taylor MBE, Head of Chambers
and Reviews Editor, “The Barrister”

Seventeen experts have been brought together by Intersentia to produce this most useful book on Brexit. It appears at one of the most dramatic times for the UK since the end of the Second World War. The difficulty for many people is that the decision to leave the EU has thrown up more questions than answers. The well-respected publisher on first class European legal materials invited Michael Dougan and his team to help us out with this excellent short paperback.

The publishers rightly describe this book as the “result of a cooperation between a group of leading academics from top institutions in the UK and beyond”. And its purpose is defined as offering undergraduates, practitioners and scholars “an authoritative, informative and thought-provoking series of analyses of some of the key challenges facing the UK legal system in and through the process of ‘de-Europeanisation’” and they do just that which is of great benefit to all at this turbulent time.

Intersentia and their team of contributors are well-respected specialists in this field of European Law and political science, and they present us with what they describe as a “discursive exploration of key issues and themes for reflection and debate within multiple areas of law”.

So, what we get with this title are the following sectors reviewed in detail, depending on what you might be researching, specifically constitutional concerns such as the relationship between Parliament and the Executive, the relevance of devolution, and the impact on the courts.

Other substantive topics include employment law (naturally), environmental law, financial services, intellectual property, and the much-neglected area of “criminal cooperation” which is not the oxymoron it might seem.

The editors have also decided to cover contemporary issues regarding the UK’s external relations, specifically concentrating on the EU, membership of the World Trade Organization, ingredients for creating post-Brexit UK trade policy and bilateral investment policy, and the much wider policy area of international security from the UN, NATO and other bodies.

The structure of this work has been designed to give “the clearest presentation of these analyses and constitute a critical, comprehensive resource on the effects of de-Europeanisation on the UK legal system”. Probably, this area will be directly relevant for many practitioners and scholars currently grappling with what may well be the breakup of our current European Law structure as it presently exists.

We realise that these analyses will remain relevant for quite a while – not only as the withdrawal process unfolds towards March 2019 and beyond, but well into the future pass 2022 as Britain re-configures and re-orientates the English legal system “to new internal and external realities” and will be forced to review both Scottish and Northern Irish systems as well. We feel very lucky to have this excellent new paperback to help us along the way. Thank you, Intersentia.

The book was published on 30th June 2017.