Law Society President John Wotton has written to the Secretary
of State for Justice Kenneth Clarke on behalf of the Law Society to
express his profound disappointment on hearing of the government's
decision not to intervene in the Prezes appeal - Prezes Urzedu
Kommunickacji Elektronicznej (the President of the Office of
Electronic Communications in Poland).
The decision of the General Court (The Court of Justice of the
European Union or CJEU) in the Prezes Order departs from 50 years
of settled practice at the Courts, whereby in-house counsel have
been permitted to plead - and have pleaded - on behalf of the
companies which employ them.
If the CJEU accepts the line taken by the General Court on
appeal, the rights of in-house lawyers who wish to bring cases
before the Courts of Justice of the European Union will be
significantly curtailed.
Effects of the case
This order will deepen the distinction between in-house lawyers
and other lawyers and add weight to the arguments of those who take
the view that in-house lawyers are not 'truly' lawyers. It is a
novel judicial development which stems from an unduly restrictive
reading of the Statutes of the Court of Justice. It also
constitutes an unprecedented expansion of the Akzo Nobel line of
case-law, a line with the Law Society already finds deeply
troubling.