Letters roundup: 17 May 2024

Beware antidemocratic sanctions

Bans on the provision of legal and other professional services to Russian clients are a worrying innovation in anti-Russia sanctions. The European Commission’s plan to extend them to non-Russian subsidiaries of Russian companies illustrates three key problems with such bans.

The first is that their effects are arbitrary in nature. In aiming to coerce and constrain the Russian government, sanctions are affecting people and businesses who are in large measure entirely distinct from that regime; indeed, they may even oppose it.

The second is that they are inconsistent, both across time and across jurisdictions. The nature of the UK ban on legal services (thankfully more limited than the European Union’s) is a good example of how the anti-Russia coalition often fails to act in lockstep.

The third problem is that sanctions are antidemocratic, in that the decisions are entirely made by the executive arms of government (in the EU, the commission; here, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office), with little or no scrutiny by the legislative or judicial arms.

In a field so dictated by politics and politicians, this third problem is especially serious. As providers of professional services, we should be watchful of restrictions that politicians seek to impose on what we do, even (or especially) where the clients are viewed with scant sympathy by the public.

John Binns

Partner, BCL Solicitors, London WC2

Assisted dying risks

There is a narrative that assisted dying is the next progressive bastion. Matt Hancock in a debate this month spoke of it as the natural progression from gay marriage. This view needs to be challenged.

The National Rifle Association in the US advocates possession of lethal weapons as a right and matter of personal choice. This policy has societal consequences in the form of higher accidental murder rates and higher suicide rates. This is seen as a very right-wing position in the UK. Campaigning organisation Dignity in Dying advocates for access to lethal medications to be a choice and a right. It argues that there will be no societal consequences, despite evidence from Canada, the Netherlands, Oregon and so on. By contrast, this is seen as a progressive and left-wing position.

Parallel to lethal weapons, lethal medications will result in inappropriate pre-emptive deaths. How many such deaths are acceptable in exchange for this ‘right’?

Dr Matthew Doré

Palliative care consultant, Belfast

Conveyancing collaboration vital

Law Society president Nick Emmerson offers an important update on the new property information form (‘TA6 Property Information Form Update’, 26 April).

Some have opposed it because it seeks to introduce much-needed modernisation of conveyancing, with doomsayers pointing to past failed attempts. However, the sector stands on the cusp of delivering massive positive change to the home buying and selling process.

We face a different landscape than in the past, given that IT has moved on significantly. More importantly, the Home Buying and Selling Group has collaborated to set out an approach that offers huge benefits to the consumer and the country.

The CLC’s concern about the new TA6 is that it seems unsustainable that such a significant element of the conveyancing infrastructure should continue to be controlled by the representative body of one branch of the legal profession. This is because it affects stakeholders outside that profession who have their own needs.

Cross-sector collaboration needs to deepen now so that we can all work together to deliver the improvements that nobody can deny are urgently needed. Delivery must be jointly owned by all the relevant parts of the system if we are to succeed.

The Digital Property Market Steering Group (DPMSG), of which the Law Society is a member, along with all other regulatory and representative entities in the home moving process, is best placed to identify what information is needed throughout the process and how to deliver that safely and digitally. The DPMSG roadmap includes the creation of a Digital Property Information Protocol to enable stakeholders to collaborate effectively.

Stephen Ward

Director of strategy and external relations, CLC