LEADING Scots advocate Gordon Jackson QC has received a mixed response to his claims that independence could provide a windfall for lawyers.
The former Labour MSP for Glasgow Govan, who is now Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, said separation could allow lawyers to pick up work that would otherwise go to London.
Scotland could “grab some of that practice cake”, he told The Herald yesterday, explaining Brexit had made him “more open-minded” about the potential upside of a Yes vote.
He said: “It is difficult to say how it [Brexit] will affect us but... in some ways this provides an opportunity for Scottish law because, at the moment, a huge amount of commercial work goes to London.
“Independence could create an opportunity for Scotland to grab some of that practice cake.”
Fellow advocate Gordon Lindhurst MSP, the Scottish Tories' legal affairs spokesman, said: “The suggestion that Scottish independence would somehow see the country become a haven for eager litigants is absurd. I very much doubt that any voters in Scotland would consider lining the pockets of lawyers a valid reason to sever our ties with the rest of the UK.”
A Scottish Labour source added: “If the SNP want to argue that independence will mean more jobs and more money for lawyers then good luck with that."
But an SNP spokesman said: “He’s right on two counts – we have no clue how Brexit will turn out and the prospect of that is leading more and more people to rethink how they would vote in a future referendum on Scottish independence.”
Green MSP John Finnie added: “While I've never heard of increased income for lawyers motivating those supporting Scottish independence, there's little doubt every sector has the potential to flourish when Scotland takes on the additional responsibilities of nationhood.”
Mr Jackson lost his parliamentary seat to Nicola Sturgeon in 2007.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel