Without prejudice communications in a genuine attempt to settle a dispute are inadmissible as evidence in court. In Poon Loi Tak v Poon Loi Cheung Desmond [2019] HKCFI 3003, the Court considered the without prejudice privilege rule in the context of a family dispute. The defendant applied to exclude certain evidence on the ground that … Read more

Clients and legal practitioners often come across a fairly common question during the course of discovery/disclosure in litigation or arbitration: is the document privileged? Legal professional privilege is a fundamental and constitutionally guaranteed right in Hong Kong and, generally speaking, can be split into two branches: litigation privilege and legal advice privilege.  Legal advice privilege … Read more

The UK Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) recently ordered an employer to disclose its external lawyer’s comments in relation to the dismissal of an employee. The EAT held that the employer waived privilege in redacted parts of a draft dismissal letter setting out its lawyer’s comments, as a result of the employer’s decision to rely on … Read more