Legal professional privilege is a key issue in any litigation or investigation and each year the courts determine many disputes over its application. It can become less straightforward to manage and protect in multi-party or...more
In December 2022, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) made a preliminary ruling which will herald a significant, and welcome, impact on the treatment of lawyer-client communications by the EU courts. The...more
Privilege is a legal concept that can have a significant impact on internal investigations. It refers to certain types of communications or documents that are protected from disclosure because they are considered confidential...more
Legal professional privilege, litigation advice privilege, iniquitous principle, unfair dismissal, right to appeal, unlawful protection from wages claim, income protection payments - EAT concludes that an email sent prior...more
High Court holds that English law legal advice privilege can extend to such communications regardless of whether or not the lawyers are in-house practitioners. In PJSC Tatneft v Gennady Bogolyubov & Ors.,[i] the English...more
On 1 June 2020, the High Court found that, by using references to their lawyers’ legal advice in support of its case that the transactions that formed the subject matter of the application were lawful, a bank had waived...more
Businesses' ability to adapt to the "new normal" of remote working in the UK has been astonishing and commendable. However, the official communication lines that protect legal privilege (amongst other things) may be eroded if...more
Any recorded communication (for example: emails, recorded phone conversations (including voicemails), letters, memoranda, computer records etc) may have to be produced to the other party in litigation or other adversarial...more
In Civil Aviation Authority v. R (on the Application of Jet2.com Ltd.), the English Court of Appeal clarified the test for legal advice privilege, confirming the need to show that the dominant purpose of the relevant...more
In Raffeisen Bank International AG v Asia Coal Energy Ventures Ltd & Ashurst LLP, the Court of Appeal distinguished the case of Conlon v Conlons Ltd, and provided a helpful analysis of the circumstances in which instructions...more
Existing Test - Legal Advice Privilege (“LAP”) allows a party to withhold from disclosure communications between a lawyer and client, which are confidential and for the dominant purposes of obtaining legal advice. This...more
The Court of Appeal has confirmed that documents protected by legal advice privilege remain so protected even upon the dissolution of the company to whom the privilege belongs. Once attached, legal advice privilege exists...more
Brief Comments on The Director of the Serious Fraud Office v. Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation Limited [2018] EWCA Civ 2006 - On Sept. 5, 2018, the Court of Appeal of England and Wales handed down a unanimous...more
As we implement the Eversheds Sutherland combination and expand our ability to serve clients around the globe, our US and international teams are working together to analyze issues impacting clients doing business in multiple...more
Corporations should take steps to ensure their internal investigations are not used against them in English litigation. A recent decision in an English court could have important consequences for internal corporate...more
“Privilege is a fundamental human right guaranteed by the common law, and a principle which is central to the administration of justice. Once a document is subject to privilege, the privilege is absolute: it cannot be...more
A recent decision out of the English High Court narrows the scope of the legal advice privilege, which will have important implications for US companies that have ties to the UK. ...more
The Court of Appeal reaffirms the qualified nature of legal professional privilege. In the recent case of R v Edward Brown (formerly Latham) the Court of Appeal held that it was appropriate, in certain circumstances, to...more
A D.C. Circuit decision (In re Kellogg Brown & Root, Inc.) has confirmed privilege over employee statements during in-house investigations. Can the world take comfort? This article examines privilege in the context of...more