Hugh Vass, a Scottish lawyer who graduated with an LL.M. in Comparative Law (focus: oil and gas) from the LSU Law Center in 1985, was invited by the LSU Law John P. Laborde Energy Law Center on Thursday, September 11th, 2014 to give a presentation on the possible outcomes of the Scottish Independence Referendum and its potential implications on the European Union, the U.S.A. and the oil and gas industry. Mr. Vass is a Partner in the Oil and Gas division of Bond Dickinson.
Hugh Vass is qualified as a Scots solicitor and Louisiana attorney who practiced in Louisiana, Venezuela, and Brazil. Mr. Vass has an extensive experience in the oil industry and has been recently very active in Africa in jurisdictions such as Morocco, Gambia, Senegal, Nigeria and Uganda. He has considerable expertise on the legal issues regarding the United Kingdom Continental Shelf and is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese. Mr. Vass stated at the beginning of his presentation that he would not be where he is today without the knowledge he gained during his study at the Law Center, and specifically thanked Prof. Patrick Martin, his thesis advisor, for his assistance and guidance.
The LSU Law Center and LL.M. Program is proud to count such an outstanding lawyer and scholar as one of its own, and warmly thanks Mr. Vass for his extremely interesting presentation. It was a great success among students and professors at the law center.
Vlad Vidican (LL.M. from Romania), P. Moréteau, Hugh Vass (LL.M. 1985), Gaëlle Forget (Research Associate, LL.M. 2013)
In the event of a “Yes” vote on the Independence Referendum next week, the world will witness the birth of two countries: Scotland and the “rUK” or “the Remaining United Kingdom”, consisting of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The consequences of a “Yes” would be tremendous for the rest of the world.
First, it would mean the disintegration of a major U.S ally, and could affect the United Kingdom’s strategic position in the U.N and NATO, as Scotland has stated that they will not allow the UK’s nuclear arsenal to remain in their territory, and the UK currently has no place to move them.
Economically speaking, approximately 90% of the United Kingdom’s oil and gas production would reside in Scottish territory, which would lead to enormous uncertainties for the North Sea oil and gas industry since Scotland would not become effectively independent until March, 26th, 2016.
There has been no precedent for a European Union country breaking up before. According to Mr. Vass, it could lend encouragement to the independence movements in other regions of Europe such as Catalonia, the Basque country, Flanders. There are many questions surrounding the Scottish Referendum of next week: What currency would the new independent country of Scotland would adopt? Where would you draw the Scotland continental shelf borders? Would Scotland be “seceding” or would the United Kingdom be “dissolving”? The legal distinction between the two would affect Scotland’s ability to renegotiate treaties currently in effect.
Looking at the legal system, currently a hybrid of English Common Law and Scottish Traditional Law, what would be the consequences and would Scotland’s civilian law tradition be expanded in its application?
The world’s eyes will be on Scotland on September 18th, 2014.
