• Parliament and Brexit: academic engagement
20 March 2018: Parliament’s response to the decision to leave the European Union has resulted in a huge demand for academic engagement. This seminar offered practical insights into engaging effectively with Parliament. Jack Simson Caird, Senior Parliament and Constitutional Clerk at the House of Commons Library, and Elin James Jones, Commons Brexit Coordinator offered guidance on maximising research to ensure its impact and influence on the scrutiny process during this period of constitutional and political change. Professor Phil Syrpis and Professor Steven Greer also offered their reflections.
• Treaties, Brexit, and the Constitution
23 March 2018: Dr Eirik Bjorge co-organized a conference entitled "Treaties, Brexit, and the Constitution", held at Jesus College, University of Oxford. The conference was co-organized with colleagues from the Library of the House of Commons and Jesus College. It brought together practitioners, lawyers from the Houses of Parliament and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, academics, and judges with a view to suggest practicable solutions for parliamentarians on the question of treaties, Brexit and the British Constitution. The planned outcome of the proceedings is a paper that sums up the conclusions of the conference.
• Workers‘ Rights from Europe: The Impact of Brexit
11 April 2018: Professor Michael Ford QC gave a presentation in Brussels on the impact of Brexit on the rights of workers in the UK and in the EU. The event, which was dedicated to considering the issues surrounding Britain’s departure from the EU and labour laws, was organised by AK EUROPA and ÖGB Europabüro, the Brussels Offices of the Austrian Federal Chamber of Labour and the Austrian Trade Union Federation.
• Human Rights in the Council of Europe and the European Union: Achievements, Trends and Challenges
Publication: A new book by Professor Steven Greer, Rose Slowe and Janneke Gerards (University of Utrecht) presents the first integrated, book-length study of the core issues surrounding these two institutions and their human rights norms in both legal and non-legal dimensions. Seeking to resolve widespread confusion about the activities of the Council of Europe and the European Union, this compelling and meticulously-researched monograph compares and contrasts relevant institutions, procedures, norms and policies.
• Brexit: The LGBT Impact Assessment
18 April 2018: Peter Dunne co-authored a report, commissioned by and featured in an article in Gay Star News, outlining the impact leaving the EU will have on LGBT rights in the UK. The report charts the advancement of LGBT rights, describing how progress in the UK has been dependent on the EU and the European Court of Human Rights, as well as examining the LGBT rights that might be put at risk as a result of Brexit.
• And then there was Brexit: EU law before and after the referendum
1 May 2018: In his inaugural lecture Professor Phil Syrpis discussed the role of a Professor of EU law in the light of the referendum, reflecting on the challenges and opportunities ahead for legal academics. His speech touched upon the nature of the EU as a political entity, addressed the impossibility of predicting consequences, with a discussion about the Irish border problem to illustrate the range of issues and international commitments that will need to be considered anew, and considered the transformative effect of Brexit upon EU law scholarship.
Listen to the full lecture here:
Coming up:
• Industrial Law Society Meeting: A talk by Schona Jolly QC
31 May 2018: Equalities lawyer Schona Jolly QC will be giving a talk on the impact of the Withdrawal Bill and other Brexit-related legislation on equality law in a post-Brexit landscape. The event will take place from 6 – 7.30pm in the Old Council Chamber, Wills Memorial Building. Both members and non-members of the Society can attend the session for free by booking a place online.