In a judgment handed down today, Mr Justice Butcher has ruled that s.44B of the Solicitors Act 1974 (as amended) does not permit the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) to require production of materials that are subject to a client’s legal professional privilege when investigating allegations of professional misconduct against solicitors.
Granting a declaration to this effect in favour of specialist media firm Carter-Ruck Solicitors and Mohamed Amersi, the Judge ruled that s.44B did not permit a client’s privilege to be overridden because privilege was a fundamental right that could only be abrogated by Parliament by express words or by necessary implication. Applying the relevant principles, there was no necessary implication that privilege could be overridden by the SRA in the absence of waiver by the client, nor was the Court bound by any authority to hold otherwise. The Judge also noted that in 2007 the Law Society had sought an express power to override privilege by way of amendment to s.44B, but the Government had rejected the amendment in the House of Lords.
A 5RB case report will be published shortly.
The judgment is available here.
Justin Rushbrooke KC, instructed by BCL Solicitors LLP, acted for the Claimants, leading Richard Howell of Brick Court Chambers.
