Protect legal privilege, bar urges government
The Bar Council has urged the government to protect the right of citizens to hold private conversations with their lawyers. The call, supported the Law Society, comes as the proposed Protection of Freedoms Bill, intended to protect people from unwarranted state intrusion in their private lives, goes through parliament.
Liberal Democrat Lady Hamwee proposed an amendment to the bill adding a clause to protect legal professional privilege in all circumstances except where privilege is being abused to further a criminal purpose. The government opposed the amendment and it was withdrawn without a vote.
The right to legal professional privilege was eroded in the 2009 case In Re McE when the House of Lords held that the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 entitles police to listen in to lawyer-client conversations, even where there is no suggestion that privilege is being abused for a criminal purpose.
Bar chair Michael Todd QC said: ‘It is extremely disappointing that the government has not so far taken the opportunity presented by the bill to reassert the fundamental right of an individual to consult their lawyer in private. The government appears to want to continue to be able to erode this fundamental human right for investigatory purposes. In our view, this is unacceptable.’
Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson said that legal professional privilege is ‘a fundamental human right that the ordinary citizen has had for centuries’. It is necessary for the proper administration of justice, Hudson said.
Comments
Legal professional privilege
The Bar Council and or the Law Society could do a great service to the general public if iftcould have a citizens rights section in their web sites which in easily understandable english lists and briefly explains in a balanced way the rights we had in previous decades and rights we have up to the present day.
The following format could be used:-
Citizens rights
1700s Right to silence and right not to be detained without trial.
1800s Suspension of right to be detained without trial.
Reinstatement of right not to be detained without trial.
1980s Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 gave greater rights to people arrested and held
in police station.
Sus laws
1990s Right to silence eroded as inferences may be drawn if accused remains silent. The
main reasons for this change are a) b) and c) etc.
2000s State monitoring of e-mails, phone calls etc in certain circumstances became
possible due to the XYZ Act. Justified as a useful tool for state to gather information
to protect the public. Critics say.......
Detention without trial in limited circumstances to protect the public against the threat
of
Phone companies required to keep records of e-mails, telephone calls etc.
Protection of freedoms bill
Part of the problem with many changes in society is that there is no user friendly reference point for the general public or even busy MPs to quickly put proposed reforms in a historical context.
What is legal professional privilege and what were the original reasons for introducing it?
How long has legal professional privilege existed in the uk system of democracy and if it has existed for so long how is change justified?
Why does the state want the power to listen to lawyer-client conversations?
Where do the ideas for such changes come from - is it a collective realisation by enlightend people that something needs to be done?
Are the guards who guard the guards better than they were in the past?
By having a readily accessible time line web page for public access showing the evolution of the relationship between the citizen and state the general public and the people behind the reforms will have a better idea of the direction of the process which may assist further debate on citzens rights and the state.
The legal profession is best placed to educate the public about citizens issues such as legal professional privilege.
LPP may be a fundamental human right that the ordinary citizen has had for centuries as suggested by the Chief of the Law Society yet I bet most citizens of all classes have never heard of it.
Bar Council
This the Bar Council's press release (published a week ago, on 2 February 2012) in full:
http://www.barcouncil.org.uk/news/latest/825.html
And here's the briefing paper which the Bar Council produced for peers:
http://www.barcouncil.org.uk/assets/documents/Bar%20Council%20briefing%2...
Puts the Law Society to shame, doesn't it?