Legal professional privilege as a discretionary right

Table of contents

• Original news
• What were the key issues in this case?
• How does this case affect the law of privilege in criminal proceedings?
• Did the court consider the issue of the ‘independence’ of the nurses accompanying the defendant?
• Will the additional common law qualification/exception erode ‘the inviolable nature of legal professional privilege’?
• To what extent are ECHR, arts 2 and 6 relevant?
• What was the court's reasoning for finding that the art 2 right outweighed the art 6 right?
• What should lawyers take from this case?
• Did the court give examples of when it considered interference with the right could be justified?
• What happens next?

Article summary

Crime analysis: Simon Clarke, in-house barrister at Cartwright King and junior counsel for the appellant in R v Brown, considers the principles established in the case and advises lawyers to be very astute to the risk of alerting the court to difficulties encountered in conference with difficult defendants, lest the court decide to intervene.