Tomás E. Lynagh

Tomás advises businesses whose products, services or data cross into the European Union. He is qualified in Scotland and in the Republic of Ireland, which is the practical route by which a British firm retains a direct line into EU law and practice.

Leaving the European Union did not remove EU law from the lives of British businesses. It changed who has to comply with what, and where. A Scottish company selling into the single market meets EU rules at the border rather than at home, and a company that assumed the two regimes would stay aligned has found that they have not.

The work covers data protection where personal data moves between the United Kingdom and the EU, including transfer mechanisms and the position of businesses caught by both regimes; product regulation, conformity marking and market access; distribution and agency arrangements with EU counterparties, where local protective rules can override the contract; competition and state aid questions; and the divergence between the two intellectual property systems since the comparable UK rights were created.

Where the advice comes from

Tomás gives advice on Scots law, and on Irish law where he is instructed to. For questions arising under the law of another member state, he identifies the point and instructs local counsel, which is a materially quicker exercise when the person doing it has practised inside the system. The firm takes responsibility for reconciling the resulting advice.

Much of his time is spent telling clients that a contract drafted for the domestic market will not survive being used abroad without amendment, and identifying which clauses have to change.