Faculty conference to study Scottish Brexit strategy

Specialist speakers will analyse the Scottish Government’s Brexit strategy at a special Faculty conference this week before an invited audience.

European experts from home and abroad are being brought together for a day of discussion and debate about issues raised by the paper, Scotland’s Place in Europe, published by the Government last December.

Those attending as speakers will be Lord Carloway, the Lord President of the Court of Session; Advocate General Eleanor Sharpston, of the Court of Justice of the European Union; Mike Russell MSP, Minister for UK Negotiations on Scotland’s Place in Europe; Professor Halvard Haukeland Fredriksen, of the University of Bergen; Professor Catherine Barnard, of Cambridge University; Professor Brendan O’Leary, of the University of Pennsylvania; Dame Mariot Leslie, formerly UK Permanent Representative to NATO and now a member of the First Minister’s Standing Council on Europe; Professor Derrick Wyatt QC, of Brick Court Chambers; Professor Drew Scott, of Edinburgh University; and Ian Bond, of the Centre for European Reform.

The event, “Scotland’s Options”, is on Friday 10 March, and will be held under the Chatham House rule. A morning session will focus on the technical and legal aspects of the Government’s proposals, while the broader international implications of those proposals will be explored in the afternoon. A summary of the conference proceedings will be published in due course on the Faculty’s website.

James Mure QC, convener of the Faculty's International Committee, said: “This event comes at a most propitious time, with the Prime Minister expected to issue the UK’s article 50 notice in the very near future. Our uniquely qualified panel of experts is set to shine a light on Scotland’s options at this defining moment in our country’s constitutional history.”