The concept of professional privilege for in-house lawyers is in a mess, both in the UK and across the European Union (EU). In Europe, the European Commission (EC) and many national bars continue to oppose the extension of privilege rights to employed lawyers, while in the UK two controversial court decisions in the BCCI litigation have thrown decades of accepted practice up in the air.
On the European front at least, things are beginning to look more positive. After many years of argument, the umbrella body of Europe’s bar associations and law societies, the Council of European Bars (CCBE), may finally be on the verge of coming to an agreed position on the extension of professional privilege rights to employed lawyers within the EU.
