Corporate Disputes magazine published an article by London partner William Boddy in its July-September 2021 issue discussing cross-border issues of legal professional privilege, which lawyers and their clients, including their in-house clients, invoke to protect documents and advice.
Boddy gave an overview of some potential pitfalls arising from the varied privilege regimes across the world, provided a summary of the differences in the willingness of courts to apply the privilege laws of other countries, and offered some practical suggestions to mitigate risk in this area.
“In-house lawyers do not benefit from the same protections as external counsel in most EU countries,” Boddy warned. In addition, he cautioned, “It is not safe to assume that a document that is privileged in the UK will be privileged in the US, or vice versa. In general, English law takes a more limited approach to the questions of who a lawyer’s client is for the purpose of receiving privileged advice.”