Long-running battle ends in denial of legal
privilege for in-house lawyers
The Court of Justice of the European Union (the
"Court") on 14 September 2010 handed down a landmark
judgment in an appeal brought by Akzo Nobel Chemicals Ltd and
Akcros Chemicals Ltd. The Court dismissed the appeal in its
entirety, denying the application of legal professional privilege
("LPP") to communications between company representatives
and their in-house lawyers in the context of EU competition
investigations.
The judgment of the Court comes as no surprise since it follows
the opinion of Advocate General Kokott and the judgment of the
General Court. It draws a distinction between in-house lawyers, who
are deemed not to be sufficiently independent from clients to
benefit from LPP, and external lawyers, whose communications with
clients remain protected by privilege. The effect of this is that
any communications between salaried in-house lawyers and their
employers will not be
