Law Lords Likely To Reverse Appeals Court Judgement On Privilege

by Robin Pilgrim, LawAndTax-News.com, London

02 August 2004

Law Lords in the United Kingdom on Thursday indicated that they are likely to overturn an earlier Appeals Court ruling which significantly limited the scope of legal advice that can be protected under privilege rules.

Observers have suggested that Lords Brown, Carswell and Rodger, and Lady Hale agreed to indicate the likely content of a reasoned judgement on the matter expected in the autumn because of the implications that their ruling is likely to have for the ongoing litigation against the Bank of England over the collapse of BCCI.

Ruling on communications between the Bank of England and its legal team at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer relating to the Bingham Inquiry into the BCCI collapse, the Court of Appeals argued that legal privilege should only be extended to advice "related to legal rights and obligations", and that therefore the bank should turn over the correspondence requested by the Three Rivers Council.

However, as a result of the Law Lords' announcement, the documents in question will now be covered by legal advice privilege, and will therefore be undisclosable.

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