Inside Police Custody 2 a number of the countries, is the formal, passive approach adopted by some lawyers, especially legal aid lawyers (see further section 4.6 below). Finally, there was some evidence that some suspects were concerned that asking for a lawyer would be regarded as an indication of guilt. 4.4 How legal advice and assistance is provided Whilst the Directive requires that suspects or accused persons have the right of access to a lawyer without delay, it is not prescriptive as to the nature of such access. The Directive clearly requires that it should include access in person, since it provides that the suspect/accused has a right to meet the lawyer and have the lawyer present during questioning, and that the lawyer must have the right to attend certain investigative or evidence-gathering acts (Art. 3(3)). However, it does not make specific reference to other forms of access, particularly access by telephone. In practice, this may be important since the lawyer may wish to delay personal attendance until an interrogation takes place, and also because a suspect may be further detained for some time following any interrogation. During such periods, a suspect may well wish to speak to the lawyer both to seek advice, and to seek assurance that someone outside of the police or investigative agency is taking an active interest in their plight. There are some dangers, however, of permitting telephone consultations since, as has been found in research conducted in other countries, lawyers may make inappropriate use of telephone consultations in order to avoid personal attendance. In a number of countries in the study, such as Bulgaria, Poland and Lithuania, there is no legal provision for telephone contact between a suspect and their lawyer. The law of some other countries, however, explicitly provides for it. In Spain, the law provides that if a lawyer is not immediately available, the detained suspect must be allowed to communicate with them by telephone (although in the cases observed, this was never done). Similarly, in Hungary, the criminal procedure code allows for telephone consultation prior to an interrogation, and in Slovenia researchers observed some cases where a (privately instructed) lawyer spoke to their client on the telephone. Where telephone consultation is permitted, a major concern of lawyers was lack of confidentiality. In some cases, such as in Hungary, this was clearly justified since there were no facilities or arrangements for confidential telephone communication. 4.5 The initial lawyer/client consultation The Directive explicitly provides that the right of access to a lawyer includes the right of a suspect or accused person to consult with a lawyer prior to questioning by the police or another law enforcement or judicial authority (Art. 3(2)(a)). The Directive does not explicitly refer to the purpose of such a consultation, but (in accordance with the wording of Article 3(1)), the purpose is, at least, to enable the suspect or accused person to exercise their right of defence practically and effectively. Thus, for example, a consultation conducted prior to an interrogation should enable the suspect to make an informed decision about whether to ask for interpretation and/or translation, whether they want a third party notified of their arrest or detention, whether they want the lawyer present during the interrogation, and whether to exercise their right to silence. However, that is a minimal conception of the purpose of the 48