CONFIDENTIALITY: solicitors face issues of legal privilege


In-house lawyers who become whistleblowers could find themselves with no legal protection and wrecked careers, a report from the Law Society's Commerce and Industry (C&I) Group has found.



The Blowing the whistle report by the group's corporate governance committee highlights the dilemmas faced by in-house lawyers who are considering speaking out.



Committee chairman Simon Welch, group secretary and legal counsel at West Bromwich Building Society, said the normal procedure was to keep the issue internal by alerting senior management to the problem. 'This has the advantage of allowing the situation to be resolved discreetly while giving the lawyer protection under the Public Interest Disclosure Act [PIDA],' he said.



But he added that the issue became far less straightforward when in-house legal advisers learned of improper practices that obliged them to report to external organisations, such as the Financial Services Authority (FSA) or the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA).



Mr Welch said: 'Talking to an outside body has implications for client confidentiality and legal privilege. And because PIDA became law before any such obligations [to report to the FSA and SOCA] existed, protection is not automatic and stringent requirements must be met to get full disclosure protection.'



He said that if these requirements were not met, lawyers were left without protection and were open to prosecution. Combined with hostility from their employer, their careers could be finished.



The C&I report recommends that in-house lawyers seek legal advice on legal privilege or consult the Law Society's professional ethics helpline for assistance.



Jonathan Rayner