This week the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry enters Phase Four, which will consider the role of lawyers within the wider consideration of action taken against sub-postmasters and others, policy making, audits and investigations, civil and criminal proceedings, knowledge of and responsibility for failures in investigation and disclosure.
As Phase Four gets underway, Chair of the Bar Council Nick Vineall KC said:
“The Post Office scandal was a catastrophic miscarriage of justice, and it is important that we understand how and why the justice system wasn’t working, and the role played by lawyers throughout the process. There are bound to be important lessons for us to learn.
“We anticipate that some lawyers will come out of it well and some lawyers will face heavy criticism. Ultimately, the assessment of whether individuals’ actions fell short of their professional obligations will be matters for the BSB or the SRA or other front-line regulators, who will need to understand exactly what the lawyers were instructed to do and what information was available to them.
“There will rightly be continued intense interest in the hearings, but it would not be appropriate for the Bar Council to give a running commentary. However, we will be following the proceedings carefully and will give anxious scrutiny to the conclusions which the inquiry eventually reaches on the role of lawyers.”
See also Nick Vineall KC’s Counsel column in June 2023 in which he comments on the appropriateness of private prosecutions being brought by corporate bodies.