Lawyers could be interrogated by Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) 'examiners' and forced to produce client documents under new powers planned for the agency, according to a government White Paper published this week.

The paper says failure to comply with SOCA's demands - which could be targeted at all individuals, not just lawyers - could constitute a criminal offence.

SOCA will bring together the responsibilities of the National Criminal Intelligence Service, the National Crime Squad, parts of the Immigration Service and of Customs and Excise.

A spokeswoman for the Home Office said the proposals would extend powers of the Serious Fraud Office and the Asset Recovery Agency to SOCA.

She confirmed that lawyers were included.

Self-incriminating material and that covered by legal professional privilege could not be used by SOCA, the paper added.

But Louise Delahunty, a partner with London firm Peters & Peters and chairwoman of the Law Society's money laundering and serious crime task force, said: 'I'd like to see what the justification is for effectively extending these powers to those agencies where it has not been used.

Is the creation of a new agency - designed to unite those existing agencies in the fight against organised crime - sufficient reason on its own, or are there alternative reasons?'

Meanwhile, members of the Institute of Legal Cashiers and Administrators (ILCA) were warned by the institute's council this week not to accept the role of money laundering reporting officer (MLRO) within law firms.

ILCA president Barry Hilton said: 'The council's concern is that legal cashiers and administrators may not have the necessary knowledge of the law to intervene correctly in a matter, nor the authority within a practice to report infringements of the money laundering regulations.'

Ms Delahunty said: 'The law doesn't prohibit non-solicitors from becoming MLROs, and there are some non-solicitors who are very able ones.

But mistakes can be made by MLROs, and asking staff who are insufficiently knowledgeable to do the job is fair neither on the firm nor the individuals concerned.'

By Jeremy Fleming

LINKS: www.homeoffice.gov.uk

The White Paper 'One Step Ahead: A 21st Century Strategy to Defeat Organised Criminals'