Shifting Sands Of The Law Of Privilege

In the past year, the Supreme Court of Canada reaffirmed the sanctity of solicitor-client and litigation privilege, setting a high standard for legislatures that intend to abrogate from the broad protection that privilege offers. At the same time, two other decisions (one of the Federal Court, and one of the English High Court) could dramatically erode the protection in areas where it was thought to have been long-established – specifically, "deal" or "transaction" privilege and the privilege attaching to documents prepared by counsel during an internal investigation. If these two decisions are upheld on appeal, their potential ramifications could be far-reaching.

Federal Court deals significant blow to deal privilege