Inquiry reminds lawyers of obligations

VICTORIA'S ROYAL COMMISSION INTO THE MANAGEMENT OF POLICE INFORMANTS

* WHAT HAPPENED

Two lawyers - the barrister known as Lawyer X and a murdered lawyer - were recruited by police to dish dirt on suspected criminals to help secure convictions.

They are among eight people linked to Melbourne's legal world who either gave police information or were considered as potential informants.

* WHY AN INQUIRY'S NEEDED

As Royal Commissioner Margaret McMurdo said, the police use of lawyers to inform on their own clients has the potential to undermine the criminal justice system and the public's confidence in it.

"The law requires lawyers to keep clients' confidences, act in the clients' best interest and disclose and avoid any potential or actual conflict of interest. Lawyers also have critical, ethical obligations to the court and the administration of justice, centred on competence, honesty and independence. Clients must be able to speak frankly to the lawyers preparing their court cases, knowing their communications remain confidential."

Otherwise, she said: "The criminal justice system would regress into a dysfunctional, far more costly, clogged quagmire of universal distrust."

* WHAT COULD HAPPEN

Clients represented by lawyers who acted as informers are being contacted by authorities. Some crooks are expected to appeal their sentence or conviction based on the revelations.

The commission has to work out how many of hundreds of cases have been affected by Lawyer X - and potentially others - being a police informant, and to what extent.

But it cannot quash convictions, change sentences or order retrials. Individuals have to go to the courts to challenge their convictions or sentences.

* INQUIRY

The royal commission will examine hundreds of thousands of documents from Victoria Police and other sources, plus other material including recordings of discussions between Lawyer X and her police officer handlers.

It will hold a number of public hearings from March but some hearings may be behind closed doors.

It will request more time if needed.

Ms McMurdo: "This is not an open-ended, broad inquiry into Victoria Police, or even into Victoria Police's management of police informers generally."