INQUIRY: outcome of probe 'surprising and unfair', top lawyers reveal in Gazette survey

More than half of top public and administrative lawyers polled by the Gazette this week said they found the outcome of Lord Hutton's inquiry either surprising or unfair.

A straw poll of 21 solicitors and barristers eminent in public law found that all but three considered the process of the inquiry fair, but seven said the outcome was unfair and five expressed surprise with it.

Eight lawyers considered the outcome fair, while two thought both the process and outcome were irrelevant and a waste of time.

There was widespread praise for how Lord Hutton conducted the inquiry.

One lawyer, who preferred not to be named, described it as 'exemplary'.

Another said: 'The process was first rate...

I felt proud to be British.'

But he added: 'That opinion has curdled with the publication of the report.

I find it hard to swallow...

I've been involved in enough similar cases to know that blame is always more evenly spread.'

Nicholas Dobson, head of local government at national firm Pinsents, said: 'There was widespread surprise at the outcome given the transparent reporting of the evidence.'

A senior barrister from Matrix chambers - Cherie Booth QC's set - said the outcome was fair, but added: 'There is a real sense that it missed a significant opportunity to put those factual findings in a broader context of asking legitimate questions as to the government's case to go to war, and this has damaged both the inquiry and Lord Hutton.'

He said that most colleagues at Matrix with whom he had discussed the outcome considered it 'laughable and derisory'.

Paul Bowden, a partner with City firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, said the outcome was fair.

He said: 'I have a niggling personal concern that the reaction to the report is reflective of a general lack of trust - conveyed through the media - in our institutions in general.'

He said that an era in which judicial questions of fact were not accepted 'bodes ill for the administration of justice and could be potentially very undermining'.

Andrew Lidbetter, a partner at Herbert Smith, said: 'The impact of the Hutton inquiry emphasises to anyone who may be affected by an inquiry the importance of dealing with the inquiry team in a way that best protects their interests.'

He said more clients might seek pre-emptive advice relating to inquiries in the wake of Lord Hutton's report.

Meanwhile, Lord Hutton has put the inquiry's solicitors - Clifford Chance - on to an urgent investigation into how his findings were leaked to The Sun newspaper and what action could be taken.

Bernard Nyman, a media lawyer at BM Nyman & Co in London, said possible actions included breach of confidentiality and breach of copyright.

He said either of these could lead to damages claims, including for profits gained by The Sun from any increased circulation that may have arisen from its scoop.

The Department for Constitutional Affairs said the Hutton inquiry's legal bill will be around 2 million in total across all parties.

See [2004] Gazette, 5 February, page 10

Jeremy Fleming