The recent decision by Lord Hutton to appoint Michael Smyth, Clifford Chance’s (CC’s) head of public policy, as solicitor to the inquiry into the death of Dr David Kelly will have turned a few heads in the legal community.
There is no doubting Hutton’s judgement that, in the circumstances, public confidence in the politically-charged inquiry, which began on 11 August, would be better served by departing from the practice of using government lawyers and appointing an independent firm of solicitors. But it might have surprised people that the firm selected should be CC, a firm better known for commercial practice and sheer global enormity than its expertise in acting for high profile public inquiries.
