The Brussels event, which will take place on Wednesday 7th June, is being launched by Leeds Legal, a new organisation which promotes the collective wealth of legal talent in Leeds.
As revealed at the campaign's prestigious Westminster launch event (pictured), the Brussels trade mission is the first in a series of five international events Leeds Legal will hold at British embassies in Europe. Along with Brussels, Leeds Legal will be hosting events in Paris, Barcelona, Dusseldorf and Milan over the next twelve months.
This first international trade mission to Brussels takes place on Wednesday 7th June at the British Embassy, and will be hosted by the HM Ambassador to Belgium, Richard Kinchen. A ten-strong team of representatives from Leeds Legal will host two business briefing and networking events, attended by delegates from Belgian businesses. UKTI in Brussels has worked closely with the Belgium-Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce to invite a select group of businesses with an interest in sourcing legal services from UK lawyers to advise on their business dealings in this country.
David Hughes, advisory board member of Leeds Legal and project manager for UKTI comments: “We chose Brussels as the first location because Belgium offers real opportunities for reciprocal business. In 2005, bilateral trade in goods between Belgium and the UK was £24billion, with £1.2 billion between Belgium and our region, Yorkshire.The first year of the Leeds Legal campaign will focus on European markets, and in years two and three we are starting to formulate plans to target other key markets. One of these will be China, and we have already laid the foundations at a successful business meeting with Hangzhou officials on 31st May.”
Deborah Green is regional manager of the Law Society of England & Wales and one of the founding members of Leeds Legal. She explains the significance of this stage of the campaign: “Leeds Legal is an entrepreneurial campaign from an entrepreneurial city. Above all it is a business-focused campaign so it is hugely exciting to be on the eve of launching our first international event. We will be promoting our message of 'world-class advice from a world-class city' to bring back new business to Leeds, the UK's largest legal market outside London.
“The business briefings will communicate the strengths of Leeds legal profession, including the characteristic no-nonsense advice and down-to-earth approach coupled with world-class expertise that law firms throughout the city provide. We are meeting with a range of businesses from global corporates through to smaller owner-managed businesses who have a need for legal services at every level. There will be opportunities created by this event for every size of law firm, and it will also act as a gateway for other businesses to benefit from increased trade between Leeds and European businesses.”
