LSS30800 | Handling a dispute: Legal Professional Privilege

Legal Professional Privilege (LPP) protects certain communications between a client and their legal adviser from disclosure in certain circumstances. A legal adviser must be a legal professional, such as a solicitor, barrister or legal executive, and they can be based in-house or be an employee. The protection applies where the dominant purpose of the communication is to obtain or receive legal advice (both oral and in writing) and is known as ’advice privilege’.

There is also ‘litigation privilege’ which applies not only to communications between the legal adviser and their client but also to documents that are created for the dominant purpose of gathering evidence, or for use in legal proceedings. It can also apply to communications to and from third parties. In order for LPP to be maintained, the information must remain confidential and not have been disclosed to third parties.

LPP is a complex area and detailed technical and operational guidance can be found at page 30 of the LSS Commentary.