A special advocate is a

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

, usually a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. List of country legal systems, Different countries and legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a ba ...

, sometimes a

solicitor A solicitor is a lawyer 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 enabled to p ...

, 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 (national defense in American English), is the security and Defence (military), defence of a sovereign state, including its Citizenship, citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of ...

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 Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, 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; , ) is the highest court in the judicial system of Canada. It comprises nine justices, whose decisions are the ultimate application of Canadian law, and grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants eac ...

ruled in '' Charkaoui'' that the security certificate provisions in the

Immigration and Refugee Protection Act The ''Immigration and Refugee Protection Act'' (IRPA) (, LIPR) is an Act of the Parliament of Canada, administered by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), that replaced the '' Immigration A ...

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 law or formal written enactment of a legislature. Statutes typically declare, command or prohibit something. Statutes are distinguished from court law and unwritten law (also known as common law) in that they are the expressed wil ...

or by

precedent Precedent is a judicial decision that serves as an authority for courts when deciding subsequent identical or similar cases. Fundamental to common law legal systems, precedent operates under the principle of ''stare decisis'' ("to stand by thin ...

to appear in closed proceedings before the

Special Immigration Appeals Commission The Special Immigration Appeals Commission (also known by the acronym SIAC) is a superior court of record in the United Kingdom established by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission Act 1997 that deals with appeals from persons deported by ...

, the

Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission This is a list of tribunals believed to be currently in existence in the United Kingdom. Two-tier system Together, the two general tribunals may be known as the 'two-tier system'. First-tier Tribunal The First-tier Tribunal hears appeals fro ...

, employment tribunals, the Northern Ireland Sentences Review Commission, the Northern Ireland Life Sentences Review Commission or special security tribunals (as defined by Sections 90 to 92 of the

Northern Ireland Act 1998 __NOTOC__ The Northern Ireland Act 1998 (c. 47) 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, establi ...

New Zealand

Two special advocates were appointed in 2005 to represent

Ahmed Zaoui Ahmed Zaoui (; born 26 November 1961) is an Algerian refugee. He arrived in New Zealand on 4 December 2002 where he sought refugee status. Objections from the Security Intelligence Service were withdrawn in September 2007, allowing him to remain ...

, 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