argomento: News del mese - Diritto Internazionale e Comunitario

Articoli Correlati: U.K. - Legal ProfessionaL Privilege (LPP) - meaning

The U.K. Court of Appeal recently spoke on the issue of Legal Professional Privilege (LPP) trying to lay down guidelines. The term refers to the right of confidentiality relating to the exchange of information between client and lawyer, with reference to all communications exchanged both in writing and verbally, even when the communication concerns simple advice. In the case of Civil Aviation Authority v. R., the Court has examined the applicability or otherwise of the “dominant purpose” test to determine whether or not a communication falls into the mentioned category. The dominant purpose test was defined by the High Court in the Esso Australia Resources Ltd v Federal Commissioner of Taxation (1999) case, clarifying that communications exchanged confidentially between client and lawyer must have the objective: the purpose of providing or obtaining legal advice (advice privilege); the preparation or definition of legal proceedings (litigation privilege). The Court also examined the appropriate approach to assessing the status of communications sent simultaneously to multiple recipients, including non-lawyers, and how to evaluate the emails and attachments sent. The Court considered that multiple sending consists of a single communication and, therefore, confidentiality cannot be ignored: instead, the discussion for meetings where it is possible to split the dominant purpose of the meeting itself and limit the right to confidentiality to part of the discussions. The Court also clarified that emails and attachments should be considered separately. Sending a document to a lawyer does not imply the necessary application of the Legal Professional Privilege except in the case where the email clearly shows that it is confidential information between the client and the lawyer.