Deal between Law Society of England and Wales and Italian National Bar hailed as “post-Brexit breakthrough”
The two organisations will work together to support lawyers from each country working in the other.
A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between the Law Society of England and Wales and the Italian National Bar that commits the latter to pushing for Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications (MRPQ) from the Italian Government.
The Memorandum means the two organisations will work together to support lawyers from each country working in the other, and commits the Italian National Bar to pushing the Italian Government to support MRPQ between their two countries. If the MRPQ comes into force, it would allow qualified lawyers in one country to work in the other on a level playing field with domestic lawyers.
As the EU is the UK’s second-largest export market for legal services, MRPQ is a policy strongly supported by the Law Society.
Under the Memorandum, Italian lawyers will be able to work on out-of-court work involving Italian, European and international law, as well as enabling those with at least two years experience to take the first part of the Law Society’s qualifying exam (SQE1) and earn the title Solicitor of England and Wales.
While a step forward, its impact is limited in scope for the overall situation of obtaining qualification recognition between EU and UK lawyers. However, it is a noticeable step, following on from a similar Memorandum of Understanding signed with the Geneva Bar by the Law Society earlier this year.
