Surveillance State, the fear the fear. What of it really? Your average lawyer surely has little to fear from an invasive state – mostly law abiding, comparatively well-off and armed with a heightened understanding of the legal system. Surely it’s a greater problem for other people more likely to get caught out and with less means to resolve the consequences.

Maybe, maybe not – figures released in a report by the Interception of Communications Commissioner showed that more than 500,000 requests to access phone and e-mail records were made in 2008 under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act.  That means an average of about 1,500 surveillance requests were made every day in Britain last year,  equivalent to one in every 78 adults being targeted every year.  The Firm magazine has distilled this down and worked out from the figures that statistically, it amounts to 140 solicitors being targeted for surveillance each year. Would you be comfortable being one of them?

Surveillance creep is an increasingly hot political potato, we’ve covered it a number of times recently and Charon QC has also opined on the situation, but will anything get done about it? Ruling politicians have little real incentive and most lawyers are more concerned about financial results than legal freedoms these days, so (dare we say it) perhaps a few more Shami Chakrabarti types wouldn’t go amiss.