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<p>Leaving the EU has provided the UK with the freedom to conceive and implement laws
and policies that put the UK first. At the start of this year, the Government set
out its plans to maximise the benefits of Brexit across each major sector of the economy
and transform the UK into the best regulated country in the world.</p><p>Leaving the
EU has also meant that the UK is free to pursue its own independent trade policy and
trade agreements. The Ministry of Justice represents the UK legal sector’s interests
overseas by improving and maintaining market access for UK lawyers practicing internationally
by securing legal services provisions in Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). Since leaving
the EU we have secured legal services provisions in a number of FTAs including with
Australia and New Zealand. We will continue to seek world leading provisions on legal
services in ongoing and upcoming FTA negotiations where this will deliver benefit
to the UK legal services sector.</p><p>I am also actively engaging with key stakeholders
in the sector both at home and abroad, including the Law Society of England and Wales,
the Law Society of Scotland, the American Bar Association, and law firms across the
UK, to understand the sector’s priorities. This is to ensure that we [HMG] are working
effectively with the sector to remove barriers to trade in legal services and to increase
UK legal services exports globally.</p><p>The UK is a global leader in Private International
Law (PIL) and outside the EU we have now regained competence in PIL matters. Private
International Law arrangements support the confidence of businesses to trade and invest
across borders, underpinning economic growth and access to justice.</p><p>That is
why we are taking advantage of new freedoms to sign agreements and seek opportunities
to strengthen arrangements with our international partners. The government has published
a consultation on whether the UK should be party to the Hague 2019 convention on Recognition
and Enforcement of Foreign Judgements and in due course we will be publishing the
government response to the consultation on whether the UK should sign and ratify the
2018 Singapore Convention on Mediation to support our world-leading mediation sector.</p>
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