Brexit is coming. We see 2018 witnessing a shift in clients' focus from Brexit analysis to implementation. Clients may increasingly face urgent implementation decisions in 2018: the lead times to build ‘cliff edge’ resilience dictates this.
"Businesses that have not completed their ‘Brexit audits’ to assess their key risks will now wish to complete regulatory, supply chain and contract reviews. Focus should be on market access rights under threat on day one and on risks of extra cost or delay. Those that have already identified ‘cliff edge’ risks to current operations will begin to action their plans, phased on the basis of proportionality, prioritisation, interdependencies and lead times." – Paul Butcher, Brexit Director, Herbert Smith Freehills
"For some businesses the cost of taking action is greater than the benefit they can derive at this stage, but an increasing number are waking up to the fact that the consequences of doing nothing might be very significant indeed. If you haven’t done your contingency planning based on a worst-case, hard-Brexit scenario, now is the time to do it. The “wait and see” approach is no longer a reasonable response." – Gavin Williams, Partner, Herbert Smith Freehills.
As the business end of Brexit approaches, what can GCs and legal teams do to guide their companies amid the political uncertainty?
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