New challenge to in-house counsel by European Court

This post was written by Edward S. Miller, Marjorie C. Holmes, Katherine Holmes and Angela Gregson.

The European General Court has held that employed lawyers do not have the right to represent their in-house clients before it.

Building on the controversial rejection of the application of legal privilege to communications with in-house counsel in the Akzo case (14 September 2010, full report not yet published), the Court has decided that even where an employed lawyer is a registered member of a national bar and has a right of audience in his or her home state, the fact that the in-house lawyer is employed by an internal client deprives the in-house lawyer of the independence required to represent that client before the European courts.

For a detailed analysis, please click here to read the issued Client Alert.