This Practice Note considers legal professional privilege (LPP), which is made up of legal advice privilege and litigation privilege. It considers the various criteria for both types of LPP including confidentiality of communications, the dominant purpose and legal context of the communications over which privilege is being asserted and to whom the communication has been copied. The Practice Note looks at the meaning, for the purposes of asserting privilege, of client, legal adviser, legal advice and anticipated litigation. It considers various exceptions to privilege including the iniquity exception (in circumstances of fraud or crime), where statute overrides privilege. The position on copy documents, collated, selected and extracted documents and translations is also considered. Finally, practical tips are offered.

Legal professional privilege (LPP) (which is often referred to simply as ‘privilege’ in this Practice Note) is an umbrella term encompassing legal advice privilege and litigation privilege.

For information on the general principles associated with privilege including the rationale for those principles and the advantage of being able to assert privilege, see Practice Note: Privilege—general principles.