The EUBA held its annual conference at the Dublin Dispute Resolution Centre, The Distillery Building on Friday 5th April 2019. The conference was opened by Micheál P. O'Higgins, Chairman of the Council of The Bar of Ireland and Paul McGarry SC, Chairman of the EUBA.
As the United Kingdom leaves the European Union, Advocate General Gerard Hogan considered the challenges for Ireland and the Common Law as he presented the topic of 'Protecting the Common Law in the Post Brexit EU'. Since the accession of Ireland and the United Kingdom to the European Union, the UK has been a powerful voice in support of the Common Law. Just as the Common Law has learned a lot from European union Law, the CJEU has felt the strong influence of the Common Law.
In the afternoon session, a panel of international speakers led the topic on 'Post Brexit Commercial Dispute Resolution in the EU.'
In January 2019, the Government adopted the Legal Services Brexit Initiative led by the Council of The Bar of Ireland in conjunction with the Law Society of Ireland to support and promote the Irish legal system in the context of Brexit, with a particular focus on commercial law.
France, Germany and the Netherlands have also taken steps to promote their legal systems for commercial dispute resolution post Brexit and have each created Commercial Courts for the resolution of disputes in English.
Pictured below, the panel of international speakers (L-R) Ulrike Willoughby, Presiding Judge, Chamber for International Commercial Disputes, Frankfurt, Attorney General, Seamus Woulfe SC, Chairperson: The Hon. Ms. Justice Caroline Costello, Duco Oranje, President of the Netherlands Court of Appeal, Emilie Vasseur, Darrois Villey, Paris, and Jacques Bouyssou, Alerion.