Professional Privilege 9 December 2014 Legal chiefs and academics today demanded new laws to stop police and security services from spying on meetings between lawyers and their clients. The Bar Council and the Law Society have for years argued that codes to protect legal professional privilege from state surveillance and acquisition of communications data are weak and ineffectual. Today, together with the Faculty of Advocates, they issued a declaration to pursue the goal of tougher legislation. Chairman-elect of the Bar Council, Alistair MacDonald QC said: This declaration is about standing up for a principle that has existed for hundreds of years. Communications between lawyers and their clients should remain confidential. If the state eavesdrops on privileged communications to gather intelligence, clients will feel unable to speak openly with their lawyers. In many cases, the effect will be that such cases cannot properly be put and a just result will not be achieved. President of the Law Society Andrew Caplen said: For many years The Law Society has called for a review of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act. The absence of explicit statutory protection for legal professional privilege remains a matter of serious concern to us. James Wolffe, QC, Dean of Faculty, said: Lawyer-client confidentiality matters to anyone who needs or might need legal representation. It is a core value of the legal profession across Europe. The declaration follows the Investigatory Powers Tribunal case involving the al Saadi and Belhadj families which highlighted what many in the legal community have known about and campaigned on for several years, namely that the intelligence agencies are allowed by the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 to spy on conversations between lawyers and clients. The only situation in which private communications between lawyer and client should be capable of being spied on is when they are made in furtherance of a criminal purpose, and the law should reflect that. Alistair MacDonald said: After the House of Lords ruled in 2009 that RIPA can be used by the security services and police to obtain legally privileged information, the Government created a series of codes to address the issue of legal professional privilege. For years we have argued that they are not effective, and we are delighted to make common cause with Bar Councils and Law Societies across Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as well as with the Faculty of Advocates, in demanding primary legislation. Andrew Caplen said: As the Chairman of the Home Affairs Committee said last week, RIPA is not fit for purpose. Law enforcement agencies fail to routinely record the professions of individuals who have had their communications data accessed. There needs to be explicit protection for legal professional privilege in the Act.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 16:14:23 +0000
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