Threat to client confidentiality

The historic legal right to lawyer-client confidentiality could be put in jeopardy if proposed anti-terror laws go ahead, solicitors have warned.

The Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Bill, has already passed through the House of Commons and is due to have its second reading in the House of Lords in October. It gives border guards powers to stop and detain travellers for questioning without suspicion they have committed an offence.

However, the Law Society has pointed out several shortcomings—there is no right to consult a solicitor if a person is examined and questioned for under an hour; and access to a solicitor is only given on request. Moreover, the Society says, the bill ‘compromises the right to a solicitor of a detained person by requiring an officer to be present during the consultation with the solicitor’. And in certain circumstances, access to a solicitor can be further delayed where this is authorised by a police officer of at least the rank of superintendent.

‘Everyone under suspicion of a crime should be able to access confidential legal advice, particularly when facing serious charges,’ said Law Society president Christina Blacklaws.

‘Even when a solicitor is present, the bill currently only allows the suspect to consult them when an officer is listening in. The confidential nature of communication between a lawyer and their client has long been affirmed as a fundamental human right.’

A Home Office spokesperson said: ‘The UK faces a sustained threat from hostile state activity and it is essential that police officers have the power to question individuals at UK ports and the border area to determine whether they pose a threat to our national security.’