President's Letter. Birmingham: the city of choice in the jurisdiction of choice

PRESIDENT’S LETTER

workforce educated in world leading universities. Furthermore, since the establishment of the Business and Property Court in Birmingham in 2017, international disputes can now be arbitrated and resolved right here in our city. The ease of access to the city centre from Birmingham airport adds to this appeal. BIRMINGHAM: THE CITY OF CHOICE IN THE JURISDICTION OF CHOICE

In December 2019, The Law Society of England and Wales published a report entitled ‘England and Wales: A World Jurisdiction of Choice’. The report outlines the strengths of English and Welsh law, the jurisdiction and the legal profession.

These strengths, it argues, include:

• the combination of flexibility and stability of English law, resulting from our doctrine of precedent, combined with the ability of the common law to adapt more quickly than statute-based law to new business practices and behaviours;

• the high calibre of the British judiciary and its international reputation for independence (which attracted global coverage as a result of 2019’s Supreme Court decision on the prorogation of Parliament); and

• the quality of the legal profession, which operates under the long-standing common law right of legal professional privilege.

Part of Birmingham Law Society’s role is to fly the flag for this city as a place to bring legal business. Therefore, in this month’s Bulletin, Tony McDaid, Chair of Birmingham Law Society’s International Committee, outlines the work of that committee in promoting Birmingham as an international centre of legal excellence. In his article, Tony also hints at the plans the committee has to harness the excitement and profile of the forthcoming Commonwealth Games for the benefit of the local legal sector. Watch this space for further details!

Whatever happens as we leave the European Union, these factors, which make this jurisdiction an attractive place to resolve disputes, will remain constant. And if England and Wales is the international jurisdiction of choice, then Birmingham has many grounds on which it can lay claim to being the city of choice within that jurisdiction.

According to a 2018 report by the Chamber of Commerce, Birmingham is the only city outside of London where clients can access the full range of business and professional services. Furthermore, there is a skew within the professional services sector towards highly professional and technical roles. We are not a ‘back office’ city, our professional services sector does technically demanding work, delivered by experts.

Birmingham’s legal sector boasts more than 900 companies, employing more than 9000 people and offering services at competitive rates. We are home to a host of international law firms with access to a young and talented Meanwhile in his article, barrister Alex Haylin, of No5 Chambers, offers an insight into a career spent litigating around the globe and the appeal of returning to work in one of the great commercial centre of the world

Elsewhere, we turn to important issues of a more domestic nature, with an article from Jayne Willetts and Matthew Moore offering helpful guidance on how our members can ensure anti-money laundering compliance, which is well worth a read for anyone still getting to grips with the latest requirements.

Looking ahead, we have a host of interesting and informative events coming up, including Birmingham Law Society’s first ever ‘Hackathon’ on Saturday 14th March, which will see people from different disciplinary backgrounds and from varying stages of their careers, come together for a day to help ‘hack’ solutions to problems faced by this year’s chosen charities, Citizens Advice Birmingham and Central England Law Centre, in delivering their advice services to the people of Birmingham.

Also on the horizon are the Society’s 2020 Legal Awards, which will no doubt once again showcase the outstanding legal talent that Birmingham has to offer and give us even more reasons to be proud of the city of choice (in the jurisdiction of choice) that we call home. Linden

Birmingham Law Society is proud to work in partnership with our sponsors:

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