Harbottle to pop cork

MPs have asked law firm Harbottle & Lewis to publicly disclose the “exact remit” of its help with an investigation into phone hacking at the News of the World.

Harbottle was previously bound by client confidentiality from addressing comments made about the firm by News Corporation chief executive, Rupert Murdoch. However, News International has now given permission for the firm to respond.

Replying to a letter from Keith Vaz MP, chair of the home affairs committee, this week, Harbottle outlined its ability to disclose information. It said: “We believe we are free to explain the position in general terms, without commenting on all the circumstances in question.”

Vaz responded by asking the firm to disclose the “exact remit” it was given when instructed by News International in 2007.

In 2007, Harbottle was hired by News International to review internal emails after the News of The World’s royal editor, Clive Goodman, and private investigator, Glen Mulcaire, were imprisoned for phone hacking.

News International representatives subsequently told a Parliamentary inquiry that Harbottle had reviewed internal emails and found no additional illegality.

Former director of public prosecutions Lord McDonald, who has been asked to review the Harbottle file of emails, told the Commons committee of culture, media and sport that the file did suggest wider criminality.

Meanwhile, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has launched a formal investigation into “the role of solicitors in events surrounding the News of the World phone hacking crisis”.

An SRA spokesperson said: “The investigation is currently in the early stages and the first step will be to obtain the necessary evidence to ensure a thorough investigation, using the powers we have under the Solicitors Act 1974.

“The investigation will be resourced by as many people as is deemed appropriate. It is impossible to give a timeline and it would be inappropriate to give any further detail at this stage.”

The Law Society has also called for action on a separate issue—that of solicitors who believe they have had their own phones hacked.

The Society has been contacted by several solicitors who have been notified by police about possible hacking activity. Des Hudson, chief executive, said he was writing to Lord Leveson—the judge conducting the inquiry into the hacking scandal—to ask him to investigate.

“Hacking into solicitors’ phones would be very serious indeed, and we urge the police to carry out a full investigation,” said Hudson.