Legal professional privilege meaning

Checklist This checklist sets out principal matters to address when launching an internal inquiry into suspected criminal conduct. For fuller guidance, see Practice Note: How to plan and conduct an internal investigation. What is the purpose of the investigation? Prioritise fact-finding over determining liability. What is the scope of the investigation? Create clear terms of reference. Decide who should undertake the investigation and assign roles within the investigation. If Board members will be involved, verify whether a board resolution is required to authorise this. Take legal advice on likely Legal Professional Privilege (LPP) issues. Ensure the Board, or a duly constituted sub-committee, oversees the investigation and is identified as ‘the client’ in any engagement letter and/or correspondence with internal and/or external lawyers; keep written records of these decisions. If deploying internal audit, consider whether it was involved in the predicate events...

This checklist reviews the employment law considerations that arise when carrying out a business reorganisation. It addresses initial planning points, whether a redundancy situation exists, ‘some other substantial reason’ (SOSR), how the employer may resist claims about dismissals, whether collective consultation duties are engaged, changes to contractual terms and conditions, and if a TUPE transfer applies. It proceeds on the basis that there is a restructure but the undertaking continues to operate at the same site and, therefore, no ‘place of work’ redundancy arises. For broader guidance, see Business reorganisations—overview and Practice Note: Implementing a business reorganisation—employment issues. Initial considerations Assess the composition of the project team and safeguard project documentation to: preserve confidentiality and for consultation purposes (eg label all proposals as ‘subject to consultation’). See Practice Note: Implementing a business reorganisation—employment issues: Initial considerations limit circulation, where required, to protect legal advice privilege Consider whether non-disclosure agreements are required and, if so,...

This Checklist sets out privilege considerations when interviewing witnesses or gathering background to a dispute, including when legal professional privilege (LPP) may apply. It gives guidance on conducting witness interviews, how to record interview notes to preserve privilege, and managing investigations, for instance in the context of a Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigation... Privilege When speaking to potential witnesses or assembling background material, an interviewer’s notes may attract LPP, in the form of: legal advice privilege—confidential communications between legal advisers and their clients made for the purpose of giving or receiving legal advice on the prudent and sensible course in the relevant legal context (Balabel, Taylor LJ) litigation privilege—confidential communications between (1) legal advisers or their clients and (2) third parties, where the sole or dominant purpose of the communication relates to existing or contemplated litigation Communications protected by legal advice privilege are not limited by the scope of litigation privilege (Three Rivers (No 6) at [617]). For further information on...

Competition policy The Commission has issued a Competition Policy Brief concerning legal professional privilege in competition law investigations, restating its position that this protection should not be widened to encompass in-house lawyers, and confirming that LPP should not extend to company-employed legal advisers either...

Abbot v The Information Commissioner [2024] UKFTT 478 (GRC) What are the practical implications of this case? This ruling mirrors the approach in other recent decisions on the operation of the exception to disclosure under EIR 2004, SI 2004/3391, reg 12(5)(b), again stressing the considerable weight that legal professional privilege carries within our justice system. It therefore highlights the obstacles applicants will encounter when attempting to access documents protected by legal professional privilege, and that only ‘special or unusual’ circumstances are likely to be sufficient for the public interest in disclosure to prevail over the interest in preserving legal professional privilege. That said, legal professional privilege was not the Tribunal’s only concern when concluding that EIR 2004, SI 2004/3391, reg 12(5)(b) applied. The Tribunal indicated that the exception would have been engaged even without legal professional privilege, particularly because releasing the material would not have added anything of substance to what is already in the public domain. As such, the analysis turned on whether disclosure would materially add...

In this issue Equality and human rights Constitutional and administrative law Judicial review Public procurement Subsidy control and State aid Post-Brexit transition guidance Information law Other Public Law news Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information No Weekly Highlights on 24 April 2025 Equality and human rights Supreme Court rules that the EqA 2010 terms ‘man’, ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ denote biological sex (For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers). In For Women Scotland Ltd v Scottish Ministers [2025] UKSC 16, the UK Supreme Court unanimously concluded that these terms identify biological sex rather than ‘certificated sex’. The court determined that those holding a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) are not included within the EqA 2010 definition of their acquired gender. The ruling confirms that trans people remain safeguarded by the Act’s gender reassignment provisions and may pursue sex discrimination claims where...

As of 31 January 2020, the UK left the EU and the EEA. This Practice Note introduces: the General Data Protection Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (EU GDPR) framework (which applied within UK law up to the end of the Brexit implementation period—11 pm UK time on 31 December 2020—and continues to operate across the EEA; therefore, any references in this Practice Note to EEA or EU states should be read as also covering the UK until that period concluded) the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation, Retained Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (UK GDPR) framework (which applies under UK law from the end of the Brexit implementation period) Where there is no need to draw a distinction, this Practice Note refers to both as ‘GDPR’ for ease. When looking at the routine processing of personal data, the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) should be consulted together, as both sets of provisions have direct effect. Practitioners will generally...

The Pensions Regulator’s scheme management enforcement strategy explains its approach to compliance and enforcement across defined benefits funding, defined contribution and public service pension schemes, while also describing the outcomes TPR may pursue and the means by which it could achieve them, all to strengthen safety and security for pension savers. Its prosecution policy and broader enforcement strategy set out the principal aims of its enforcement activity and give insight into the framework TPR applies when deciding which cases to take forward for enforcement action. Initial considerations in TPR investigations In its capacity as the UK regulator for work-based pension schemes, TPR has a suite of information-gathering powers to identify and track risks and to obtain evidence to support criminal prosecutions. These include: requiring reports of breaches of the law and notifiable events requiring reports prepared by skilled persons on specified issues compelling trustees and employers to provide documents and other information the power to inspect premises For more...

FORTHCOMING CHANGES : At Budget 2025, the government stated it will legislate via Finance Bill 2026 (also known as Finance (No 2) Bill 2024–26) to introduce measures targeting promoters or enablers of marketed tax avoidance. The provisions are set out in Part 6 of the Bill (as introduced on 4 December 2025) and cover: updates to the DOTAS and DASVOIT civil penalty regime so that HMRC can issue DOTAS penalties directly, rather than seeking tribunal approval; a general prohibition on promoting marketed arrangements that have no realistic prospect of success, and a prohibition on promoting arrangements specified in universal stop regulations (USRs). A breach of either prohibition would attract a range of sanctions, including publication, financial penalties and criminal prosecution; promoter action notices (PAN). A PAN would require businesses to cease providing goods or services to promoters of tax avoidance where those goods or services are used in the promotion of avoidance and the promoter is in breach of a USR or stop notice....

Legal professional privilege (LPP) is a core legal protection that permits [ insert organisation’s name ] to resist producing evidence to a third party or the court. It enables the organisation to seek expert legal guidance, setting out all pertinent facts to our legal advisers without concern that they will later be revealed and used against us. This short guide sets out what legal professional privilege (LPP) is and how we can best preserve it. 1 What is legal professional privilege? LPP is an umbrella term covering: legal advice privilege (LAP) litigation privilege LPP safeguards the confidentiality of written and verbal communications between lawyers and clients. It is a fundamental entitlement, allowing a party to withhold material from disclosure to any third party or a court. Legal advice privilege Legal advice privilege applies to all confidential communications between a client and their lawyer made for the purpose of giving or obtaining legal advice...

Precedent sample privilege log Click to access the Precedent sample privilege log. Please note this register was created in Excel, so it cannot be exported to Word. This Precedent sample privilege log is suitable when an organisation runs an internal investigation. It helps you catalogue documents covered by legal professional privilege, indicate whether they are redacted or fully withheld, and state the rationale. Use it to note whether access is limited by redaction or complete withholding, together with the underlying justification. It is equally applicable where an organisation faces an external investigation. Legal professional privilege (LPP) shields documents from disclosure to third parties, including government agencies, regulators and claimants in civil proceedings. There are two categories of LPP: legal advice privilege litigation privilege See Practice Note: Internal investigations and legal professional privilege—Types of legal professional privilege...

Litigation privilege This privilege safeguards exchanges (i) between a solicitor and their client, or (ii) between the client and a third party—see Practice Note: Legal professional privilege for in-house lawyers—Litigation privilege. To set up and preserve litigation privilege, you can sidestep the challenge of trying to pin down pertinent information—such as dates and grounds—by capturing the key points in this Precedent. It is supplied in Excel format and therefore cannot be downloaded into Word...

SRA standards and regulations Where an individual represents a client in a matter, they must ensure the client is notified of all information material to that matter that they possess, except where exceptions are applicable...

Legal professional privilege Legal professional privilege denotes a doctrine shielding particular categories of documents from scrutiny or inspection by the opposing party to the case. Legal advice privilege covers materials containing advice irrespective of whether proceedings are envisaged at any stage. Litigation privilege concerns documents created when litigation is extant or on foot, anticipated, or pending as such. Both are treated as sitting beneath the umbrella of legal advice privilege. A hearing attendance note will, as a rule, come within litigation privilege and so need not be disclosed to the other side. The request for a copy of that hearing note may, therefore, be made with a respondent’s potential appeal in mind...

Legal professional privilege Legal professional privilege is a doctrine shielding specified categories of documents from scrutiny by the opposing party in proceedings. Legal advice privilege covers materials that convey advice, regardless of whether litigation is anticipated. Litigation privilege concerns documents created when litigation is on foot, foreseen, or awaiting commencement. Both are treated as sitting beneath the umbrella of legal advice privilege. A hearing attendance note will usually attract litigation privilege and, as a result, need not be disclosed to the other side. A request for a copy of the hearing attendance note may, in fact, be made with a respondent’s prospective appeal in mind...