Law Society wins concessions for top law firms seeking the world's best talent

4 December 2009

The Law Society has secured major concessions for Britain's leading international law firms in plans that will enable firms to employ the world's brightest and best legal talent from overseas.

The Society has seen many of its recommendations to the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) reflected in the MAC's plans submitted to the Government this week on the points-based system, which regulates the number of migrant workers gaining employment in Britain.

The Society had expressed the point to MAC that migrants working in the UK's large international law firms are highly-qualified, well-paid individuals who make a significant contribution to the domestic economy and do not pose a significant risk of abuse of the immigration system.

The result has seen the MAC recommend to the Government the lifting of restrictions on highly skilled workers looking to work in Britain.

Law Society President, Robert Heslett, says:

"Recruitment of the very best talent from the global marketplace underpins the success of leading international law firms that focus on developing talent to take advantage of opportunities in key emerging markets such as China and India.

"This strategic imperative means that non-EEA recruits, with foreign language skills and experience, are a vital component of a firm's ability to remain competitive. The MAC proposals reflect the importance of allowing professionals with such skills to work for British law firms and in turn make a valuable contribution to our economy."

The Law Society worked with Britain's leading international law firms to provide a strong, evidence-based submission to the MAC. Key issues identified by the Society have been addressed and resolved in the MAC recommendations.

The MAC report, which focuses on Tier 1 of the PBS, recommends to Government that the requirement for highly skilled migrant workers in Tier 1 to have a Master's degree be removed so that prospective migrants are able to score points for undergraduate qualifications.

In February 2009, the Home Secretary announced that the criteria for Tier 1 would be tightened so that only those applicants with a Master's degree would gain enough points to qualify.

As Master's degrees are not typical in the legal sector these changes created a distortion of the market where highly-experienced, highly-paid lawyers capable of generating large amounts of revenue for firms were ineligible to enter the UK via Tier 1 if they did not have a Master's degree.

The Society's view that professional qualifications should be recognised as equivalent to a Master's degree for the purposes of the PBS has also been recognised in the MAC report.

Robert Heslett says: "There is little doubt that the current system needs to be less restrictive to ensure Britain remains the jurisdiction of choice.

"Aspects of the current PBS make it more difficult for City firms to attract the best legal talent from the global labour market. It reduces the mobility of lawyers within the international networks of UK-based firms, deters entrepreneurial overseas lawyers from doing business in Britain and may lead to clients taking their legal business to other jurisdictions.

"The opening of overseas legal markets is a priority for the Society, and the competitive position of UK exporters of legal services in respect of international markets is delicately balanced. Any perception that the domestic legal market is becoming more closed to overseas lawyers and law firms might result in further restrictions on the ability of UK lawyers to do business abroad.

"We will continue to promote improvements to the system which ensure that UK law firms are not placed at a competitive disadvantage."