There have been 14 interventions in support of the appeal since the ruling by the European Court of First Instance last September, with 11 coming from third parties.
The Association of Corporate Counsel Europe, the General Counsel of FTSE 100 companies and the Law Society of England and
Chief executive of the Law Society Des Hudson said: “Other interveners have differing positions on the issue and we wanted to add a strong voice in favour of privilege for regulated lawyers. Our action reflects the importance we attach to protecting our members’ interests.
“The AkzoNobel case represents an opportune moment to reconsider the current case law and perhaps strengthen the concept of privilege. We hope that the court reconsiders its attitude towards privilege issues, as this is an issue of importance to all lawyers.”
The ruling was delivered in response to a complaint by Dutch chemical giant AkzoNobel against the European Commission over the status of lawyer-client confidentiality.