Litigation Notes

High Court takes expansive view of when reference to legal advice may result in broader waiver

High Court finds “without prejudice” statements contained in mediation paper were admissible to defend against allegation of fraud

The High Court has held that statements made in a “without prejudice” (WP) mediation paper were admissible as they were to be used to rebut allegations …

High Court finds evidence of without prejudice discussions should be admitted to establish real risk of dissipation of assets in support of freezing injunction

High Court finds privilege not waived in expert report referred to in context of security for costs application

In a recent decision, the High Court found that the claimant's reference to an expert's preliminary report in the context of a security for costs …

Court of Appeal finds trustees not entitled to withhold certain privileged documents in response to subject access request from beneficiaries of Bahamian trust

In the most recent chapter of the Dawson-Damer trust litigation, the Court of Appeal has held that a law firm acting for the defendant trustee in the …

Master finds privilege does not apply to documents held in solicitors' client files due to the fraud exception

Article published - Legal advice privilege: a dominant purpose test, but to what end?

The Court of Appeal's recent decision in The Civil Aviation Authority v The Queen on the application of Jet2.com Ltd [2020] EWCA Civ 35 found that legal …

Court of Appeal finds regulator cannot demand production of client's privileged documents unless statute overrides privilege

In a judgment handed down this morning, the Court of Appeal has held that an audit client was not required to hand over its privileged documents in …

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Court of Appeal confirms instructions to law firm relating to escrow monies were privileged

The Court of Appeal has upheld a High Court decision which rejected an application for disclosure of documents containing a client's instructions to its …

Court of Appeal finds legal advice privilege is subject to a "dominant purpose" test

In a decision handed down earlier this week, the Court of Appeal has found that legal advice privilege (LAP) is subject to a "dominant purpose" test, ie …

No collateral waiver where party relied on the effect of legal advice rather than its content