The European Union legal regime currently provides contracting parties with significant predictability and stability. The United Kingdom’s election on June 23, 2016, to exit the EU presents a potential affront to such certainty, and has understandably ruffled the feathers of contracting parties doing business in the U.K. and the EU and worried about being caught in the "wrong" law or courts postBrexit.

The reality is that the Brexit process is likely to take a long time and it is difficult to predict the impact of Brexit on any area, including contracting and disputes, until we know what post-Brexit model the U.K. will choose to adopt. That said, there are some practical steps that parties revisiting existing contracts or negotiating new ones can take now to seek to insulate themselves against the impact of Brexit and the intervening uncertainty.

Originally published in Law360, New York on September 26, 2016.