Olswang has refused to disclose how much it trousered from twice-bankrupted Dominic Chappell over his acquisition of BHS.

The firm was questioned in Parliament a couple of weeks ago as to how it could have considered Chappell to be a suitable person to acquire BHS. Frank Field MP subsequently wrote to Olswang and asked how much it had been paid for advising on the deal. And last Friday the firm wrote back and gave him the finger. Apparently it couldn't disclose its fees, as it was "bound by professional obligations regarding legal professional privilege and client confidentiality, which have not been waived by our clients".

However when Field made the same request to Linklaters, it had no such reticence. In its letter on Monday this week it gave a full break down of its fees paid by Arcadia, which currently stand at £1.228m. Its client hasn't waived privilege either, and so clearly the firm doesn't believe privilege applies to fee levels.

    Olswang yesterday

Olswang isn't commenting on the matter, which seems far from clear cut. RollOnFriday spoke to Richard Turnor, a partner at Maurice Turnor Gardner who specialises in advising partnerships, who said "Olswang may be in a very awkward position because its fees are confidential information relating to the affairs of a client and the invoices may be privileged. Its client may have refused consent to disclosure. The question is whether the Parliamentary Committee would have power to force the client to authorise disclosure or to over-ride the duty of confidence.”

What is clear is that Linklaters is entirely aware of the importance of privilege. Field complained about the firm to a journalist at Legal Week, saying "I just think it's too easy to claim privilege. It's just laziness and a cover up." Linklaters fired off a stinker of a letter in response saying that privilege was a fundamental human right, MPs couldn't pierce it other than in exceptional circumstances, and Field's remarks were "highly defamatory, untrue, and not protected by parliamentary privilege". Field can, however, breathe a sigh of relief that Linklaters has "no intention of taking the matter further".

In the meantime BHS has gone under, and 11,000 jobs are on the line.
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