A special advocate is a

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

, usually a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. Different countries' legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a barrister or a solicitor. However, ...

, sometimes a

solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

, who is appointed to represent the interests of a party in closed proceedings, i.e. proceedings from which that party has been excluded. Special advocates are generally prohibited from discussing any evidence that has been the subject of closed proceedings with the excluded party. They are most often used in the context of cases involving

national security National security, or national defence, is the security and defence of a sovereign state, including its citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of government. Originally conceived as protection against military atta ...

but have also been used in other matters, including parole board hearings and data protection claims.

Canada

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, special advocates are lawyers independent of government and appointed by a court to protect the interests of persons named in security certificates during the hearings from which persons named in certificates and their own lawyers are excluded. Special advocates are not, however, in a solicitor-client relationship with the person named in the certificate. Special advocates have the required government security clearance for accessing information which the government must keep confidential because its disclosure would be injurious to national security or endanger a person's safety. Special advocates are under strict obligations to maintain the confidentiality of that information. On February 23, 2007, the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...

ruled in '' Charkaoui'' that the security certificate provisions in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act were unconstitutional because the process violated the rights of persons named in a certificate to a fair hearing. The Supreme Court of Canada suspended the declaration of invalidity for one year to give Parliament time to amend the security certificate legislation. The government responded to ''Charkaoui'' with bill C-3. This legislation adds a special advocate regime to security certificate and related proceedings under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. It attempts to strike a balance between protecting the rights of persons named in a certificate and ensuring the confidentiality of information which, if disclosed, would be injurious to national security or endanger a person's safety.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, special advocates have been authorised either by

statute A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by le ...

or by

precedent A precedent is a principle or rule established in a previous legal case that is either binding on or persuasive for a court or other tribunal when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts. Common-law legal systems place great valu ...

to appear in closed proceedings before the Special Immigration Appeals Commission, the Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission,

employment tribunal Employment tribunals are tribunal public bodies in England and Wales and Scotland which have statutory jurisdiction to hear many kinds of disputes between employers and employees. The most common disputes are concerned with unfair dismissal, red ...

s, the

Northern Ireland Sentences Review Commission Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

, the

Northern Ireland Life Sentences Review Commission Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

or special security tribunals (as defined by Sections 90 to 92 of the

Northern Ireland Act 1998 __NOTOC__ The Northern Ireland Act 1998 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which allowed Westminster to devolve power to Northern Ireland, after decades of direct rule. It renamed the New Northern Ireland Assembly, established by ...

New Zealand

Two special advocates were appointed in 2005 to represent Ahmed Zaoui, an Algerian asylum seeker who had been detained as a risk to national security, in a review carried out by the Inspector General of Intelligence and Security. The proceedings against Zaoui were subsequently withdrawn in 2007.

External links

* {{cite web , url=http://www.justice.org.uk/data/files/resources/33/Secret-Evidence-10-June-2009.pdf , title=Secret evidence , website=Justice (charity) , date=June 2009

References

Legal professions