Legal professional bodies including the Law Society of Scotland are backing amendments to protect lawyer-client confidentiality, as the Investigatory Powers Bill begins its House of Lords committee stage today.
The Society has joined the Faculty of Advocates, the Law Society of England & Wales and the Bar Council of England & Wales, in expressing concerns that the bill fails to provide proper protections for confidential communications between lawyers and their clients.
A number of amendments have been put forward for consideration by the committee, to strengthen the protection for client confidentiality in line with Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights report, and to remove the power to target such confidential communications.
Tim Musson, convener of the Society's Privacy Law Subcommittee, pointed out that the existing law meant that lawyer-client privilege could not be invoked if communications were being used for any criminal purpose, "which should alleviate any concerns in this area".
He commented: “Ensuring a client has complete confidence that they can speak candidly to their lawyer, without any fear of that information being shared with a third party without consent, is vital and needs to be expressly protected within the Investigatory Powers Bill.”
“There are risks that confidentiality could be breached as the bill stands. We are concerned about the potential for information being released through the collection of large amounts of data. While the content of any one communication would not be made available, collecting lots of data about significant numbers of people will inevitably contain some confidential communications. This requires correction.
“In today’s technological society, the Government does not have a easy task in striking a balance between protecting people and allowing the freedoms technology can offer. However that protection should not undermine the freedoms we currently enjoy.
“We hope the committee will consider the concerns we have raised and take forward appropriate amends to properly protect client confidentiality.”
