Update: A litigation overview – 2015

Anna Pertoldi and Maura McIntosh look back at some of the key developments of 2015 from the perspective of the commercial litigator in England and Wales ‘2015 offered a welcome respite from the previous flood of case law considering applications for relief from sanctions for breaches of court rules and orders.’ As we move into …
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Privilege: Practice makes privileged

Gwendoline Davies and Andrew Beck explain the important principle of legal advice privilege and offer their practical advice ‘The judge emphasised that factual documents will not attract privilege simply because they were prepared by a lawyer who was present at a meeting – the key consideration will be whether the documents were created in connection …
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Behague v HMRC [2013] UKFTT 596 (TC)

Wills & Trusts Law Reports | March 2014 #137

HMRC opened an enquiry into Mr Behague’s (the appellant) self-assessment return and issued a notice to the appellant under para 1 of sch 36 of the Finance Act 2008. This notice requested the provision, to HMRC, of a client engagement letter and a report issued to the appellant by his solicitors. The appellant appealed this notice and claimed legal professional privilege (LLP) applied to the documents.

HMRC accepted that communications between a solicitor and his client were privileged to the extent they related to the giving or obtaining of legal advice, however HM...

Privilege: Litigation privilege – the dominance matrix

Clare Arthurs and Phillip D’Costa find out about recent developments in privilege ‘Tchenguiz provides some useful guidance as to how litigation privilege will be applied by the courts.’ Legal professional privilege attracts its fair share of judicial and public attention. Broadly speaking, it protects confidential communications between a lawyer and client from disclosure, in order …
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Privilege: A privileged upbringing

Joanna Ludlam and Fiona Lockhart examine the likely impact of the Prudential judgment The provision of legal advice is not the sole preserve of lawyers and in these challenging commercial times clients do not want to have to pay for ‘legal filters’ (having their lawyers instruct third parties whom they could instruct themselves).In a much …
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Discrimination Law: Claims by equity partners

Employment tribunals are increasingly having to resolve discrimination claims brought against partnerships. Suzanne McKie and Laura Bell look at the key issues ‘When seeking to resolve disputes within a partnership structure, it is common to have informal “without-prejudice chats” between partners to keep disputes low-key.’It is fair to say that equity partners are becoming increasingly …
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Privilege: Hear no evil, see no evil

Clare Arthurs discusses the implications of the Keydata case ‘Finding joint interest privilege where no joint retainer exists might place lawyers in a difficult position both contractually and in terms of potential conflicts.’ Drawing the line between the interests of a company and those of its human agents can be difficult. In many cases the …
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Privilege: Lawyers only

Julian Copeman and Heather Gething review the impact of the Prudential judgment ‘The disclosure of documents in English litigation is an important tool that allows the court to do justice between the parties with “all the cards on the table”. It therefore serves the general public policy that cases should be decided by reference to …
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