In-house lawyers can put their company at risk by writing down advice, general counsel were told last week.

The erosion of legal privilege means that no advice is certain to remain confidential, delegates heard at the conference.

Rupert Bondy, general counsel at pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, said: 'The legal function within a company is becoming a source of risk within its own right - even though lawyers like to think of themselves as stopping others getting into trouble.

After all, in the Enron-Andersen scandal, it was a memo from an internal lawyer that brought Andersen down.'

Bill Lytton, senior vice-president and general counsel of US conglomerate Tyco, said an attempt to claim privilege could cause damage to a company's reputation.

He said: 'Prosecutors, investigative committees and the media will all take any assertion of privilege as evidence of guilt.

It is very hard to assure a board that something is privileged going forward - whether written by internal or external counsel.'

But Peter Wakkie, chief corporate governance counsel at Dutch retailer Ahold, said it was fundamental for general counsel to have the trust of the management if they are to perform their role well.

He said: 'They should not constantly think of their own exposure - if the board directors sense that is the general counsel's agenda, you will be shut out of meetings and will not get all the information you need.'