The CEO accountable for the biggest miscarriage in UK history has put the blame squarely at the feet of her General Counsel. She claims it was their fault not hers.
She claims they let her down. That they withheld information and were not transparent. That she relied on their advice and litigation strategy.
Sir Wyn Williams will have the last say in his Post Office Horizon Inquiry report, but for now let this be the biggest lesson for in-house lawyers in global history:
If you do not advise clearly, transparently and with integrity, it is easy to blame you.
If you are conflicted and do not deal with that conflict, it is easy to blame you.
If you do not communicate material matters to the entire board, in writing, it is easy to blame you.
Conflicts are common in business and in lawyering in-house. It is the failure to identify and address them early, with transparency and due process that leads to misconduct, illegality and harm.
As the examination of witnesses in the Post Office Horizon Inquiry is demonstrating, history and the public will cut no slack to General Counsel who are seen to have favoured the interests of their client over their professional independence and integrity, or who do not put the matter beyond doubt. Such failure makes them sitting ducks.
As this plays out in the public domain, it is clear that General Counsel do not actually need to contort themselves under client pressure. Society, their profession and the legal system do not expect it of them. In fact the very opposite. The same goes now for directors, investors and insurers across the land, watching the Inquiry unfold.
Where would we be now, had any one of the three General Counsel of the Post Office formally advised the Board of the conflicts they saw and ceased to act until they were resolved - or any of the in-house legal team. Where would we be now if professional conduct concerns had been raised right at the outset?
If there was ever a time for simple governance and straightforward communication by and for General Counsel, that time is now.
