Warwickshire County Council has appointed an international law firm to investigate how leader George Finch's code of conduct breach went public.

In March, county councillors of all stripes backed a call from Conservative group leader Cllr Adrian Warwick for the council to fund work to try to discover how the findings of an independent investigation into Cllr Finch's conduct were released.

It followed the Local Democracy Reporting Service's report that solicitor Claire Ward of Birmingham-based legal practice Anthony Collins had found that Cllr Finch had breached the code of conduct by publishing information that "could have jeopardised" a child rape case.

Ms Ward was enlisted by the council to look into eight complaints against four elements of the county's constitution – Cllr Finch was cleared of any wrongdoing against the other three elements and has the opportunity to challenge the findings of the investigation in front of a sub-committee of councillors should he choose to.

Cllr Warwick argued the matter should be looked at by an external party and not the council's own legal team "for transparency and public confidence", a view expressed towards the end of the meeting which saw Cllr Finch survive a vote of no confidence in his leadership by one vote.

During the debate on his future, Cllr Finch highlighted that the report had been "leaked and then further discussed publicly when those matters are yet to be concluded", making the case for "due process".

Warwickshire County Council this week confirmed that Trowers and Hamlins, a legal firm which lists offices in Birmingham, London, Manchester and Exeter and Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia on its website, is investigating how Ms Ward's report went public.

Describing the probe as "ongoing", the council said it was not able to set a timescale for it to conclude and that no specific budget had been set with costs to be met from existing provision for legal services.

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It was also confirmed that once completed, the investigator's report would be looked at by monitoring officer Sarah Duxbury, the council's most senior legal official and arbiter of complaints. She will "consider the findings and decide whether any further action is necessary".

Cllr Finch, who is known to be facing at least three other code of conduct complaints having portrayed political rival Cllr Jan Matecki as a burglar on social media, declined to offer an update on the status of any of his complaints.

"That is not information privy to the public, which it was leaked by whoever – maybe the councillors, maybe the press, maybe staff here, we don't know," he said.

"There is currently an investigation going on as to why and who leaked it. There are suspicions already and evidence there but that's not for me to give."

He also stated that due process had been "corrupted" with the complaints used "as a weapon in the vote of no confidence".

He added: "You'll find out when they are finished with. The investigation is still going on, there is no update and there is no need to give an update."