Preliminary note

In Cyprus the title ‘practising advocate’ (δικηγόρος που ασκεί την δικηγορία in Greek) is, in principle, accorded to legal professionals who (i) are members of the Bar, (ii) possess an annual licence from the Cyprus Bar Association and (iii) pay their contributions to the Advocates Pension Fund. Those professionals can be self-employed, partners or associates in a law firm. Their status and activities are basically regulated by the Advocates’ Law Cap. 2 (hereinafter the Law) and the Advocates’ Code of Conduct Regulations of 2002 (hereinafter the Code). There exist six local bar associations (Nicosia, Limassol, Famagusta, Larnaca, Paphos and Kerynia) and one centralised, national bar association, namely the Cyprus Bar Association.

The duty of secrecy in dealings and communications with clients (commonly referred to as ‘attorney–client privilege’) is exclusively imposed upon practising advocates as defined above. It does not therefore extend to those professionals who are not entitled to pursue their activities under that professional title. In-house lawyers may not be members of the Bar in Cyprus and the legal privilege is not therefore recognised for them. They are, of course, bound to respect the confidentiality clauses contained in their contract of employment; however, it is questionable whether those contractual constraints can validly be invoked by the in-house lawyer in order to refuse disclosure of information in court proceedings.