The Designated Lawyers (DL) is the name given to the Recognised Legal Representatives appointed to represent the interests of various undercover officers and their managers in the Undercover Policing Inquiry.
It is a group of lawyers employed by the Metropolitan Police for this purpose as many were employed by the Met when they were being deployed. Individuals represented by them are sometimes referred to as the Designated Lawyers Officers.
It appears that the former Special Demonstration Squad and National Public Order Intelligence Unit undercovers and managers who are represented by the Designated Officers are not listed as core participants (though those who have other legal representation are).
They do not however, represent the interests of the Metropolitan Police itself. That is done by the Commissioner’s Lawyer (a reference to the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police), sometimes distinguished as ‘CL’.
In the Inquiry, they have regularly appointed Oliver Sanders KC (Chambers: 1 Crown Office Row) as their barrister.
More than 100 former Special Demonstration Squad officers and a ‘handful’ of former National Public Order Intelligence Unit officers are represented by the Designated Lawyers.
According to a January 2022 press notice from the Metropolitan Police Service:
The Met has offered separate legal representation to individual officers, both former and still serving, who were part of SDS or who were seconded to the NPOIU from the Met. Those who have accepted this offer are represented by a team which sits within – but whose responsibilities are separate from – the Met’s Directorate of Legal Services (DLS). This team is referred to as the “Designated Lawyers” or “DL”. The DL team acting for individual officers is separate from the CL legal team acting on behalf of the Commissioner of the Metropolis, i.e. the Metropolitan Police Service as an organisation. The separation means that these officers are afforded independent legal advice, with lawyers acting on their behalf as individual clients.