
Legal privilege for in-house lawyers
GC takes a look behind the company curtain in European countries where corporate counsel are denied the professional status and legal privilege afforded to private practice lawyers.
“Does the company lawyer hold a job or does he practise a profession?”
This is a question posed by Jacques Barthélémy of Cabinet Barthélémy Avocats in Paris. He is writing in the 2014 European Company Lawyers Association [ECLA] white paper, which calls for all in-house lawyers in Europe to be recognised as independent professionals – and afforded the legal privilege enjoyed by their peers in private practice.