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ARTICLE · 20 MAY 2026

Disputes 101: Legal Privilege, Old Principles, New Challenges

A&O Shearman
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English legal professional privilege faces new challenges as recent case law expands protection for intra-client communications while AI adoption creates novel questions about maintaining confidentiality and privilege. How do these developments reshape the landscape for corporate clients and their lawyers navigating disclosure obligations?

United KingdomLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration
Michael Godden
Michael Godden
Juliet de Pencier
Juliet de Pencier
Abigail Witts
Abigail Witts
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The established principles of English legal professional privilege are deceptively simple to state, but harder in practice to apply. Never mind the sounding of a "new-legal-development-klaxon" for Aabar v Glencore, and the vexed question of how to protect privilege when using AI.

This is the third blog post accompanying the 2026 Disputes 101 seminar series.

Old principles

The test for English legal professional privilege, as we know, has two heads:

  • Legal advice privilege which protects confidential communications between a lawyer and a client made for the dominant purpose of giving or receiving legal advice in a relevant legal context, and evidence of such communications.
  • Litigation privilege which protects confidential communications made for the dominant purpose of obtaining information/evidence or advice in connection with the conduct of adversarial litigation that is in progress or reasonable contemplation.

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