Law Society guidance on non-disclosure agreements heavily criticised in academic’s response to MPs

updated on 25 March 2019

The Law Society has been criticised for a lack of “ethical leadership” on lawyers’ use of non-disclosure agreements (NDA) by leading legal academic and policy adviser Richard Moorhead, who has called for greater regulation of the controversial practice because the legal profession is not willing to change on its own.

As Legal Futures reports, Moorhead, of University College London, stopped short of telling MPs on the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee that NDAs should be banned because lawyers would find ways around a blanket restriction. Instead, he recommended new regulations that would limit the use of NDAs.

Moorhead assessed the guidance on NDAs provided to lawyers by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and the Law Society, concluding that what the latter has to say is “less useful”. He continued: “[The Law Society’s guidance] appears more concerned about asserting the legitimacy of using NDAs than it does about dealing effectively with the risks… [it] suggests that substantiated allegations of potentially serious wrongdoing can nonetheless be subject to obligations of confidentiality to protect reputation.”