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ARTICLE · 08 JULY 2024

Misuse Of Privileged Documents By Counsel May Lead To Disqualification

Hull & Hull LLP
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There are very few things in the legal profession that have hard and fast rules, but privilege is certainly one of them.

CanadaLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration
Aaron Chan
Aaron Chan

"Phil Connors: Do you ever have déjà vu, Mrs. Lancaster?
Mrs. Lancaster: I don't think so, but I could check with the kitchen.

(Groundhog Day, Columbia Pictures, 1993)"

There are very few things in the legal profession that have hard and fast rules, but privilege is certainly one of them.

To quote the Ontario Court of Appeal in Ontario (Auditor General) v. Laurentian University, 2023 ONCA 299, privilege is "sacrosanct" and is a "civil right of supreme importance". Where the "legislature intends to abrogate privilege, it does so with clear and express language".

As the case of De Cotiis Estate, 2024 BCSC 1024 illustrates, repeated misuse of privileged documents by counsel led directly to his and his firm's disqualification from acting.

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