Legal professional privilege
Disputes & Litigation

Legal professional privilege protects communications between a solicitor and their client that were conducted for the purpose of receiving legal advice, both oral and in writing ("legal advice privilege") and documents that are created for the dominant purpose of gathering evidence for use in legal proceedings ("litigation privilege").

This form of privilege entitles a legal person who has received legal advice to refuse to produce or disclose the information conveyed or recorded. Legal professional privilege applies in civil proceedings, criminal proceedings and may be relied upon in the face of a demand against any third party, including the Director of Public Prosecutions, Criminal Prosecution Service and police. It is therefore a substantive legal right and not simply a rule of evidence that exists and is maintained on public policy grounds. It is an absolute right, such that competing interests are irrelevant and immaterial.

There are limited exceptions to the rule and they include a right by The Law Society to ensure that a solicitor complies with the Solicitors' Rules of Conduct.

Lord Taylor ruled in R v Derby Magistrates Court, ex parte B [1996] 1 AC 487 that:

"The principle that runs through all [the authorities] is that a man must be able to consult his lawyer in confidence, since otherwise he might hold back half the truth. The client must be sure that what he tells his lawyer in confidence will never be revealed without his consent. Legal professional privilege is thus much more than an ordinary rule of evidence, limited in its application to the facts of a particular case. It is a fundamental condition on which the administration of justice as a whole rests."