,
14 tweets,
3 min read
Read on Twitter
There’s a frightening lack of understanding of services trade. So let’s just have a quick look at legal services, shall we (thread)?
In an imaginary world of no barriers to trade, you could hire a Ukranian attorney (cheaper) and your Ukranian attorney would be able to compete openly against UK attorneys. Both barristers and solicitors, of course.
It doesn’t take long to figure out that that world is already fantasy because of the services provided. Much of the work in the UK is based on UK law and done in English. But let’s say our smart self-studied Ukranian is totally up to speed. But then...
You cannot just go and provide legal services. The Legal Services Act 2007 restricts the provision of reserved legal services. Which are these: 
But that’s ok, right, because our Ukranian attorney is, after all, an attorney, right? Well no... To practice you need to be licensed by an approved regulator. Such as the law society or the general council of the bar mentioned in schedule 4 of the act.
OK then. I bite. How does our Ukranian get his license? Well first of all he’ll have to choose barrister or solicitor. That’s not a common distinction in the world, but the UK has it - note: many barriers to trade are steeped in history.
So you want to be a barrister? The bar standards board offers some guidance for foreigners wanting to practice at the bar and has some simplified procedures.
The easiest route, the one without exams and such? European Lawyers. Based on EU law. Namely this directive eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
However, under that directive you practice under your home jurisdiction title (e.g. avvocato or Rechtsanwalt) and as a registered European lawyer. And you still need to jump through hoops.
1) Register with the BSB (pay)
2) Join an Inn (pay)
3) get licence
4) get insurance (pay)
2) Join an Inn (pay)
3) get licence
4) get insurance (pay)
And this is the easiest procedure. Plenty of barriers to trade. All UK based. Easier access through EU law, but still with a good amount of barriers. And here’s the thing...
Having regulations for the legal profession makes sense. Having an insurance requirement makes sense. Yes, there are also some historical peculiarities of the UK system you could question and reduce to mere “barriers to trade”, but...
... by and large there are reasons for the regulation and they are meaningful. And these create significant barriers to trade at the border. The legal profession is also a good example of how EU law simplifies trade in services, but cannot abolish barriers entirely.
And the thing to bear in mind is: you would not even want a world without that regulation. Simplifying services trade is tough, because you want to protect the goals of the regulation, while fiddling around to make cross-border service trade easier.
