Foreign aspects

We are a firm of fully professionally qualified lawyers in the law of England & Wales. Unfortunately we have no expertise whatsoever in any law of any other jurisdiction (including Scotland, Ireland (north & south), the Isle of Man, Channel Islands, and British colonies and territories overseas). The law of the European Union (EU) is included in our expertise, but this is so only insofar as it applies in England & Wales, and this does not include the internal law of other EU member states.

Please bear in mind that even if you are English or Welsh through and through, you can still be affected by foreign law. For example, if you own a house abroad or take holidays abroad or deal with people or companies abroad.

Say you are English driving to Spain in a Japanese car and you are involved in an accident on the way whilst in France with another car from Germany driven by a Dutchman. Which law applies if someone is injured? Many people assume French law because that is where the accident was, but the answer is probably Dutch or English, depending on who has been injured. But if the dispute is about a house in France French law will almost invariably apply whoever the disputing parties are.

Just to complicate matters a little more, just because (eg) French law applies does not necessarily mean that the dispute has to be heard by the French courts. It is possible to enforce just about any national law in just about any nation’s courts (eg French law in the English courts and vice versa).

So the foreign side of things can be a bit complicated, to say the least. We can usually offer some help as to which law applies and which courts have jurisdiction, but we cannot assist with advice on foreign law itself or the use of foreign justice systems. We can generally only advise you what the position is in the law of England & Wales (including any relevant EU law) and help you in the courts of England & Wales.

Tax advice

We do not give advice on tax unless we specifically say so in an individual matter. Accordingly, unless we specifically say otherwise the tax implications of any course of action we recommend have not been considered or taken into account. We can however offer tax advice at additional cost if you so wish.