Where do we go from here? The development of private international law in the UK and the post Brexit environment.

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On 2 March 2018 Prime Minister May said: "We will want our agreement [on the future relationship between the UK and the EU] to cover civil judicial cooperation, where the EU has already shown that it can reach agreement with non-member states, such as through the Lugano Convention, although we would want a broader agreement that reflects our unique starting point." Whether such a broader agreement that would encompass more areas of private international law (PIL) than the civil and commercial issues covered by the Lugano Convention is possible or even desirable if the UK is not a Member State of the EU and does not accept the jurisdiction of the CJEU will be one of the central issues analysed by the AHRC Network on PIL.PIL arises when a case comes before a court with a foreign connection. PIL is concerned with three issues; does the court have jurisdiction, which law applies and can a foreign judgment be recognised and enforced. A major part of UK PIL is EU law. The rationale behind EU civil judicial co-operation is to "facilitate the free circulation of judgments and to [...] enhance access to justice" in cross-border cases. The EU model for jurisdiction and recognition and enforcement of judgments created by the Brussels Ia Regulation often provides claimants with a choice of jurisdiction. The Rome I&II Regulations ensure that the same set of applicable law rules apply within the EU in contractual and non-contractual obligation cases. The EU has developed Regulations on family law (Brussels IIa and Maintenance). The high quality of the UK judiciary and legal professions with a particular expertise in resolving cross-border disputes makes England and Wales one of the leading jurisdictions in the world, attracting high value claims and facilitating litigants' access to effective legal remedies. The EUPILLAR project, funded by the EU Commission, conducted by several EU Universities and led by the current PI, considered how the EU PIL framework was functioning in the EU before the Brexit vote, exposing the problems with EU PIL. A major weakness of the EU framework is that some deficiencies in the functioning of national judicial systems are exported through recognition and enforcement of judgments under Brussels Ia and IIa based on the principle of mutual trust. A substantial international regime in PIL is provided by Hague Conventions which for external purposes are part of the EU acquis (Choice of Court, Child Abduction, Children and Maintenance) shortly to be added to by a new Recognition and Enforcement Convention which will hopefully become part of that acquis. Furthermore there is a Commonwealth model law regime for recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters and in maintenance. Finally, there is an EFTA regime for jurisdiction and recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (Lugano Convention). The post-Brexit PIL landscape therefore presents opportunities to diverge from the EU internal regime in our relationship with other EU Member States and to utilise a reinvigorated external competence to develop a new PIL strategy for relations with other States. The research questions are: How could Brexit impact on the cross-border litigation pattern in the UK? How might different PIL regimes affect the number of PIL cases litigated in the UK? What is the appropriate mix of international, Commonwealth, EU/EFTA and intra-UK harmonisation of PIL post Brexit? Pre-EU data and recent data, both gathered as part of a pilot study, will be compared. The new datasets will clarify the PIL legal landscape in the UK and begin to gain insights into litigants' current strategies in cross-border cases. This will help to identify the challenges faced by UK policy-makers to create the best post-Brexit PIL regime. UK policy makers will take a lead in progressively unifying global PIL at the Hague Conference and in the development of judicial cooperation in the Commonwealth.