Law society welcomes UK government pledge to engage over snoopers charter impact on legal privilege

The UK government will engage with the Law Society and Bar Council in England and Wales in a bid to ease tension over the Investigatory Powers Bill’s impact on legal professional privilege, MPs have been told.

The news has been welcomed by the Law Society of Scotland which said the bill needed further clarification and improvement.

Michael Clancy, director of Law Reform at the Law Society of Scotland told Scottish Legal News: “We’re pleased the UK Government has agreed that there should further dialogue on the role of legal professional privilege in relation to the Investigatory Powers Bill.

“We think that further amendments are needed to clarify and improve the bill to fully protect legal professional privilege, which is known as the obligation of confidentiality in Scotland.

“Ensuring our security as a nation and as individuals is vital, however it is also an essential part of our society and justice system that a client can be completely open with their solicitor and can provide information without any fear that what they say may be disclosed without their permission.

“If such communications have any criminal purpose, the protection offered by legal professional privilege to the client does not apply under existing law.”

In February the Law Society of Scotland welcomed recommendations by the House of Lords and House of Commons Joint Committee that legal professional privilege should be expressly protected within primary legislation, rather than through a code of conduct as had been initially drafted.

Robert Buckland QC, the Solicitor General for England and Wales , told the House of Commons that “dialogue will continue and will allow for meaningful scrutiny and debate” amid a grilling from MPs across the political spectrum.

The bill was passed at third reading yesterday by 444-69.

The debate on Monday and yesterday saw many MPs highlight concerns over privilege raised by the Law Society of England and Wales and the Bar Council of England and Wales, as well as the Law Society of Scotland and Faculty of Advocates.

The Solicitor General has already met with the Bar Council to discuss the bill and is due to meet the Law Society of England and Wales today.

He said the Bar Council “have kindly undertaken to come up with further proposals by which the issues that took up so much time in Committee might be resolved”.

He added: “It is perhaps a little unfortunate that those particular proposals were not crystallised prior to today’s debate, but there will of course be more time. If clear proposals come forward—I am sure that they will—they can be subject to full, proper scrutiny in the other place.”

Andy Burnham, the Shadow Home Secretary , said: “Serious concerns have been expressed by the Bar Council and the Law Society about the fact that the provisions would weaken privacy protections currently enjoyed by lawyers, but those concerns are not adequately reflected in the Bill.”

Alistair Carmichael, home affairs spokeperson for the Liberal Democrats, said: “On the protection of legal privilege, I am enormously concerned that even at this stage of the Bill—after a draft Bill, and after the Bill has been through Committee—various professional bodies, including the Faculty of Advocates and the Law Society of Scotland, remain unpersuaded that the Government’s efforts have been sufficiently robust. I think that their judgment is correct, and I look forward to seeing something a bit more substantial.”

Ahead of the debate on Monday, Chantal-Aimée Doerries QC, chairman of the Bar of England and Wales, said: “Legal privilege is a fundamental and constitutional right of UK citizens.

“Placing statutory protection for legal privilege in the Investigatory Powers Bill is an intricate, complex task, and the Bar Council looks forward to working with parliamentarians on all sides of both houses to make sure that we get this right.”

Later, Catherine Dixon, chief executive of the Law Society of England and Wales, added: “We are pleased that the government has said it will work with the Law Society, the professional body for solicitors, to preserve legal professional privilege under the Investigatory Powers Bill.

“LPP protects a client’s fundamental right to be candid with their legal adviser without fear that someone is listening in or that what they say will be disclosed, thereby breaching confidentiality.

“Safeguarding national security and preventing serious crime is vital, and it can be achieved without undermining our fundamental rights and risking miscarriages of justice.”