Legal Privilege in UK Law
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Balabel v Air India
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Where information is passed by the solicitor or client to the other as part of the continuum aimed at keeping both informed so that advice may be sought and given as required, privilege will attach. Moreover, legal advice is not confined to telling the client the law; it must include advice as to what should prudently and sensibly be done in the relevant legal context.
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Three Rivers District Council and Others v Governor and Company of the Bank of England (No 9)
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But the dicta to which I have referred all have in common the idea that it is necessary in our society, a society in which the restraining and controlling framework is built upon a belief in the rule of law, that communications between clients and lawyers, whereby the clients are hoping for the assistance of the lawyers' legal skills in the management of their (the clients') affairs, should be secure against the possibility of any scrutiny from others, whether the police, the executive, business competitors, inquisitive busy-bodies or anyone else (see also paras. 15.8 to 15.10 of Adrian Zuckerman's Civil Procedure where the author refers to the rationale underlying legal advice privilege as "the rule of law rationale").
In cases of doubt the judge called upon to make the decision should ask whether the advice relates to the rights, liabilities, obligations or remedies of the client either under private law or under public law. Is the occasion on which the communication takes place and is the purpose for which it takes place such as to make it reasonable to expect the privilege to apply?
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R v Derby Magistrates' Court, ex parte B
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It is a fundamental condition on which the administration of justice as a whole rests. It is a fundamental condition on which the administration of justice as a whole rests. Legal professional privilege is thus much more than an ordinary rule of evidence, limited in its application to the facts of a particular case. Legal professional privilege is thus much more than an ordinary rule of evidence, limited in its application to the facts of a particular case.
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Crompton (Alfred) Amusement Machines Ltd v Commissioners of Customs and Excise (No. 2)
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At other times it is a Government department or a local authority.It may even be the Government itself, like the Treasury Solicitor and his staff. They are regarded by the law as in every respect in the same position as those who practise on their own account. The only difference is that they act for one client only, and not for several clients. They must uphold the same standards of honour and of etiquette. They are subject to the same duties to their client and to the Court.
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R (Morgan Grenfell & Company Ltd) v Special Commissioner of Income Tax
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A necessary implication is one which necessarily follows from the express provisions of the statute construed in their context. A necessary implication is a matter of express language and logic not interpretation.
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Paragon Finance Plc (formerly National Home Loans Corpn Plc) v Freshfields (A Firm)
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A party cannot deliberately subject a relationship to public scrutiny and at the same time seek to preserve its confidentiality. He cannot pick and choose, disclosing such incidents of the relationship as strengthen his claim for damages and concealing from forensic scrutiny such incidents as weaken it. He cannot attack his former solicitor and deny the solicitor the use of materials relevant to his defence.
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Investigatory Powers Act 2016
... ... ) , examples of sensitive information include—(a) items subject to legal privilege,(b) any information identifying or confirming a source of ... ...
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Modern Slavery Act 2015
... ... 2015/1476, reg. 2(e) (with regs. 3, 6, 8) ... 47: Civil legal aid for victims of slavery ... (1) Schedule 1 to the Legal Aid, ... ) .(2) In this Part of this Schedule—“items subject to legal privilege” has the same meaning as in the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 ... ...
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Immigration Act 2016
... ... subsection (2) , an unincorporated association is to be treated as a legal person for the purposes of sections 14 to 27 ... (2) A case falls within ... has reasonable grounds for believing is an item subject to legal privilege.(9) An immigration officer may retain a document seized under this ... ...
- The Regulation of Investigatory Powers (Covert Human Intelligence Sources: Matters Subject to Legal Privilege) Order2010
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Financial services compensation scheme's claim for legal privilege upheld
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report and comment on Financial Services Compensation Scheme Ltd v. Abbey National Treasury Services plc. Design/methodology/approach: The paper outlines t...
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Professional secrecy and legal professional privilege
Legal privilege and professional secrecy of attorneys relate to the right to a fair trial (Article 6 European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)) as well as to the right to respect for private and f...
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Legal professional privilege in corporate criminal investigations
This article considers two areas that arise in the context of corporate criminal investigations relating to claims of legal professional privilege: the extent to which litigation privilege may atta...
- Legal Professional Privilege
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Legal Privilege and Covid-19 – Part I
Part I discuses the concept of attorney-client privilege, work product doctrine and the legal position in the US and the UK. Legal privilege and attorney work product The legal privilege or attorne...
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Legal advice privilege in employment
A recent decision in the UK Court of Appeal has provided guidance in the area of privilege in employment claims. In Curless v Shell International Ltd, the Court of Appeal had to consider whether le...
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Legal advice privilege upheld for dissolved companies
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...
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Training slides can attract legal professional privilege
The Information Commissioner held that a set of training slides provided to a public authority were not protected by legal advice privilege. However, this decision was overturned by the Tribunal, m...