Parliamentary agents are
solicitors who are licensed (together with the firms they belong to) by the
Houses of Parliament in the
United Kingdom to draft, promote or oppose
private bills
Proposed bills are often categorized into public bills and private bills. A public bill is a proposed law which would apply to everyone within its jurisdiction. This is unlike a private bill which is a proposal for a law affecting only a single p ...
. Private bills are a specific class of legislation promoted by organisations outside Parliament to obtain powers for themselves that differ from the general law.
History
In 1836, due to the obvious conflict of interest, the Clerks of the House were debarred from carrying out what had been a lucrative line of agency work. Parliamentary agents expanded into the space left by the clerks and formed the Society of Parliamentary Agents in 1840.
The high point for parliamentary agency work was during the mid 19th century during the rise of the railway industry, as these companies often needed parliamentary powers in building and running their operations. This was a source of political controversy, since railway directors were becoming seen to be overly powerful, leading the prime minister at the time,
William Ewart Gladstone, to identify parliamentary agents as ‘the deeper power in opposition’.
Today
As private bills make up a very small proportion of contemporary legislation, with most legislation being sponsored by the government and thus drafted and supported by the
Civil Service
The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
, the work of parliamentary agents has relatively diminished and there are now only seven firms of parliamentary agents:
, employing five Roll A agents, Winckworth Sherwood LLP and
Eversheds Sutherland (International) LLP (formerly Rees & Freres), each employing three Roll A agents, Sharpe Pritchard LLP, employing two Roll A agents and
Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP,
Pinsent Masons LLP Pinsent is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Cecil Pinsent (5 May 1884 – 5 December 1963), British garden designer and architect
* David Pinsent (1891 – May 1918), friend and collaborator of the Austrian philosopher Ludwig ...
and Veale Wasbrough Vizards LLP who each have one Roll A agent.
It is also possible for any person to become a Roll B parliamentary agent for the purpose of opposing a single bill in Parliament. Such a person must either be a solicitor or have "a certificate of respectability".
Much of the work of parliamentary agents, as experts in the legislative process and
Whitehall and
Westminster political culture, would now come under the profession of political consultancy, although the remaining parliamentary agents are now billed as law firms first and parliamentary agents second. However, the largest of the seven firms, Bircham Dyson Bell, has developed a political consultancy business within its legal practice, thus giving it the rare distinction of most of its political consultants also being qualified lawyers.
Parliamentary agents can observe
House of Commons proceedings from the under gallery near the entrance to the chamber.
[
The ]City Remembrancer
The Remembrancer is one of the City of London Corporation’s Chief Officers; the role dates back to 1571. His traditional role is as the channel of communications between the Lord Mayor of the City of London, Lord Mayor and the City of London on ...
is a Roll A parliamentary agent.
References
External links
Private Bills before Parliament - Parliamentary Agents
UK Parliament
House of Commons factsheet on private billsHouse of Commons private bill petitioning kitUK Parliamentary Archives, Parliamentary Agents Papers
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Parliament