The High Court has recently considered the threshold for
retaining confidentiality in respect of privileged documents in the
case of SL Claimants v Tesco plc; MLB Claimants v Tesco
plc [2019] EWHC 3315 (Ch), a decision that will have
particular implications for solicitors, accountants, other
regulated professionals and their legal advisors.
There has been an increase in parallel civil and regulatory
proceedings in recent years, as regulators have adopted a more
proactive approach to regulation and investigations. There has
been, for example, a trend of claimants increasingly making
allegations of regulatory breaches or professional misconduct in
the context of civil proceedings, which may trigger self-reporting
obligations, or otherwise attract the attention of the regulators.
Consequentially, there is a corresponding increase in the risk that
documents produced or deployed in regulatory proceedings may be
disclosable in civil proceedings.
