Click on the diagram below to open our client guide to legal professional privilege under English law, with a decision tree and practical tips for maintaining privilege. The decision tree also contains links to more detailed notes on the topics covered, and these can also be accessed directly from this page, using the links below the image.
Alternatively, you can access a digital version as a web app on our UK legal professional privilege hub. This guides users through a short series of questions and uses the answers to analyse whether a document is likely to be covered by legal advice privilege and/or litigation privilege:
There are two types of legal professional privilege, both of which require that the relevant communication or document must be confidential.
(1) Litigation privilege – This applies where, at the time the communication or document was created:
- litigation was in reasonable prospect; and
- it was created for the dominant purpose of the litigation.
(2) Legal advice privilege – This applies to:
Privilege also applies where all or part of a document evidences a privileged communication.
In some circumstances privilege can be lost where privileged material is subsequently disseminated.