Farrer & Co was left reeling this week after one of its top partners was accused on prime time television of suggesting that opposing lawyers should be placed under surveillance.
RollOnFriday broke the news of Farrers' involvement on Monday afternoon and by Monday evening the firm was being roasted by Jeremy Paxman on the BBC's Newsnight. The programme suggested that Farrers' head of contentious media, Julian Pike, may have advised News International to place two lawyers acting for phone hacking victims under surveillance, in order to obtain details on their personal lives.
This public embarrassment is unlikely to be the end of Farrers' troubles. RollOnFriday understands that News International asked Linklaters to review the whole episode, and the firm advised that the lawyers should be told immediately that they had been tailed. The police were informed, and now seem to have handed over information they held about the matter directly to the pair*.
No one has suggested that Pike, already subject to unwelcome publicity after admitting that he knew that his client had misled Parliament, has done anything illegal. But a spokesman for the SRA said that, hypothetically of course, covert filming of opposing lawyers "could be seen to breach Principle 2, which compels solicitors to act with integrity."
A spokeswoman for Farrers said that "we are bound by client confidentiality which prevents us from discussing client matters. The confidentiality belongs to the client, not the firm. News Group Newspapers Limited has not waived its right to confidentiality on these matters and we are not permitted to take the decision to waive privilege without the client having consented."
*A spokesman for the Met told RollOnFriday that "we can confirm that two people have recently been given access to material about themselves provided to Operation Weeting by News International. The individuals concerned are not believed to have been victims of phone hacking but because of the nature of the material in which they featured it was decided that they should be given access to the documentation in the same way that victims - or potential victims - of alleged phone hacking have been."
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RollOnFriday broke the news of Farrers' involvement on Monday afternoon and by Monday evening the firm was being roasted by Jeremy Paxman on the BBC's Newsnight. The programme suggested that Farrers' head of contentious media, Julian Pike, may have advised News International to place two lawyers acting for phone hacking victims under surveillance, in order to obtain details on their personal lives.
This public embarrassment is unlikely to be the end of Farrers' troubles. RollOnFriday understands that News International asked Linklaters to review the whole episode, and the firm advised that the lawyers should be told immediately that they had been tailed. The police were informed, and now seem to have handed over information they held about the matter directly to the pair*.
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A pike in some difficulty yesterday |
No one has suggested that Pike, already subject to unwelcome publicity after admitting that he knew that his client had misled Parliament, has done anything illegal. But a spokesman for the SRA said that, hypothetically of course, covert filming of opposing lawyers "could be seen to breach Principle 2, which compels solicitors to act with integrity."
A spokeswoman for Farrers said that "we are bound by client confidentiality which prevents us from discussing client matters. The confidentiality belongs to the client, not the firm. News Group Newspapers Limited has not waived its right to confidentiality on these matters and we are not permitted to take the decision to waive privilege without the client having consented."
*A spokesman for the Met told RollOnFriday that "we can confirm that two people have recently been given access to material about themselves provided to Operation Weeting by News International. The individuals concerned are not believed to have been victims of phone hacking but because of the nature of the material in which they featured it was decided that they should be given access to the documentation in the same way that victims - or potential victims - of alleged phone hacking have been."