Please click here to access a preview of the Guide.

We are pleased to launch the 2019 edition of our Asia Pacific Guide to Privilege.

Businesses are increasingly faced with multi-jurisdictional disputes where evidence rarely falls within the borders of a single country and complex legal privilege issues often surface when dealing with communications across multiple jurisdictions.

Compiled by our network of Herbert Smith Freehills lawyers and trusted local counsel, the updated Guide takes account of the latest developments across Asia Pacific and covers 21 jurisdictions.

Many enforcement actions either emanate from or involve long-arm jurisdictions outside Asia and span across many jurisdictions in Asia. Given for example the English Bribery Act’s broad jurisdiction and extra-territorial reach coupled with aggressive enforcement agencies, clients around Asia ought to understand how the authorities in England will apply the law of privilege, in addition to how the law is applied across Asia. Moreover, although English case law is persuasive in most common law jurisdictions, legal advice privilege is an area in which a number of common law jurisdictions, such as Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore, have chosen to depart from English case law. Given the spotlight on these issues, we have added a new chapter on England & Wales and a related comparative question in each of the other 20 chapters across Asia-Pacific.

We hope that this comprehensive Guide will be useful particularly to multinational companies who operate numerous subsidiaries across borders.

Please email asia.publications@hsf.com to request a hard copy of the Guide.

Peter Godwin
Peter Godwin
Partner and Regional Head of Practice (Disputes), Asia, Managing Partner - Kuala Lumpur
+60 3 2777 5104
Luke Hastings
Luke Hastings
Partner and Regional Head of Practice (Disputes), Australia
Gareth Thomas
Gareth Thomas
Partner and Head of Commercial Litigation, Hong Kong
+852 2101 4025
Will Hallatt
Will Hallatt
Partner, Hong Kong
+852 21014036
Hannah Cassidy
Hannah Cassidy
Partner, Hong Kong
+852 21014133
Natalie Curtis
Natalie Curtis
Partner, Singapore
+65 68689805
Kyle Wombolt
Kyle Wombolt
Partner and Global Head (CC&I), Hong Kong
+852 21014005
Jeremy Birch
Jeremy Birch
Partner, Hong Kong
+852 21014195

Disclaimer

Herbert Smith Freehills LLP has a Formal Law Alliance (FLA) with Singapore law firm Prolegis LLC, which provides clients with access to Singapore law advice from Prolegis. The FLA in the name of Herbert Smith Freehills Prolegis allows the two firms to deliver a complementary and seamless legal service.