RCJ and Harbottle developments in hacking scandal
updated on 02 September 2011
The News of the World saga continues, with an announcement that Lord Justice Leveson will conduct the hacking inquiry in the Royal Courts of Justice. The Murdochs, David Cameron and other senior politicians are expected to be called to give evidence. It has been suggested that the proceedings may be broadcast live.
This comes after media law firm Harbottle & Lewis sent a letter to the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee accusing News International of wrongly representing the law firm's role in the scandal. The Murdochs' allegations that Harbottle had "made a major mistake" in its investigation into the extent of alleged criminal activity at News International were - according to the letter - unfair in light of the firm's retainer with the corporation.
Harbottle claims that its retainer was far narrower than was portrayed and that it had only been instructed in the context of a single employment case. It argues that it was not brought in to "find out what the hell was going on" (as Rupert Murdoch alleged).
News International's former in-house legal chief Jon Chapman has also turned on the corporation, branding it "very misleading" to claim that the Harbottle investigation was ever supposed to be a "general internal inquiry".
