Legal professional privilege (LPP) protects the confidentiality of written and oral communications between lawyers and clients. It entitles a party to withhold evidence from production to a third party or court.
Legal advice privilege (LAP) and litigation privilege are distinct forms of LPP.
LAP enables clients to put complete confidence in their lawyer. It applies to communications made in confidence, between lawyer and client, for the purpose of giving or receiving legal advice.
There are five essential elements; all of which must exist for LAP to apply:
legal advice
confidentiality
lawyer
client
dominant purpose
Legal advice given by in-house lawyers, whether privately or publicly employed, will attract LPP in the same way as any other lawyer, and the privilege will extend to employees supervised by the in-house lawyer in their capacity as an in-house lawyer.
The
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