In a judgment delivered on Wednesday 5 September, the Court of Appeal reinstated the position as to when a party can assert Legal Professional Privilege, specifically Litigation Privilege, related to an investigation into circumstances that may lead a regulator to commence criminal proceedings.
The case centred on documents produced by solicitors and forensic accountants who were acting on behalf of ENRC during investigations. Believing such documents were protected by Legal Professional Privilege, the ENRC failed to disclose the documents to the SFO. Therefore, it was the court’s responsibility to decide whether the documents were protected by Legal Professional Privilege.
Our summary and analysis of the decision is included in the following insight on our firm website.