The Legal Profession's Responsibility for Brexit

Abstract

This article argues that Brexit is a collective failure of the legal profession. The existing legal narrative of the European Union implies that power relationships reflect the division of institutional and sovereign competences. This misrepresentation was passed onto the general public who framed their personal frustration in this conventional narrative and demanded “taking back control”.

The vote for Brexit resulted from a combination of four key features of the constitutional narrative - the ethos of interdependence, the promise of inclusion of the other, the claim of people’s political incapacity and the policy making in terms of the extent of national sovereignty. This framework does not offer an explanation of the United Kingdom’s true position in the Union and in the world as well as gives false hope to those belittled and excluded. This article suggests an alternative account of the Union and calls for a new research agenda needed for the future of Europe – inquiring into the role of lawyers in the deconstruction of the European Union.

Keywords: Brexit, Constitutionalism, Taking Back Control, The Legal Profession, Power, Sovereignty, Political Capacity, Deconstruction of the European Union