Legal Professional Privilege in the Common Law World : A Guide to Six Major Jurisdictions

This comparative analysis of legal professional privilege examines the approaches of six major common law jurisdictions: England, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the United States.

Legal professional privilege (LPP) is the protection given to confidential communications between lawyers and their clients in connection with legal advice or litigation and related preparatory materials. Legal Professional Privilege in the Common Law World provides a comprehensive account of LPP-also known as attorney client privilege-in six major common law jurisdictions: England, Australia, Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong, and the United States. Adopting an avowedly comparative approach, the book reflects both the universal importance given to LPP and the extensive challenges faced by common law jurisdictions in developing and applying a privilege that can, at times, be seen to impede effective law enforcement and the administration of justice. Authors Andrew Higgins, Jocelyn Plant, and John Yap aim to provide judges, practitioners, and academics alike with the key case law from each jurisdiction, as well as a practical set of principles to assist them to navigate the surprisingly large number of areas where the law of privilege remains uncertain. Given these grey areas, the book also illustrates how interjurisdictional dialogue features prominently in recent developments in LPP.Developing from the first edition, Legal Professional Privilege for Corporations, this volume maintains a strong focus on corporate privilege, reflecting the sheer number of disputes involving corporate clients and control over the corporation''s privilege material. At the same time, it engages fully with the law as it applies to all clients. Topics given particular attention in this second edition include: shareholder access to the company''s privileged material; the scope and operation of waiver; the status of privileged material that has escaped the client''s control; choice of law issues in the law of privilege; and the crime-fraud or iniquity exception. The second edition has been updated to add Singapore and Hong Kong as common law jurisdictions under analysis.