This Practice Note is intended for in-house lawyers, including lawyers working in-house in law firms. It explains what legal professional privilege (LPP) is, how LPP operates, and to whom it belongs. This Practice Note also explains how LPP can be lost or waived and summarises LPP issues in selected other jurisdictions. It covers legal advice privilege and litigation privilege, which are two distinct types of LPP. It incorporates, where appropriate, SRA guidance on LPP for in-house lawyers. See section: SRA guidance for in-house lawyers.

While aspects of the law on privilege are untested and open to academic debate, for in-house lawyers the question of whether privilege applies will typically be answered by the practical application of core principles and professional judgement.