Addlesee & Ors v Dentons Europe [2019] EWCA Civ 1600 concerned negligence proceedings brought against Dentons by the investor in a scheme marketed by a Cypriot company that later dissolved. The company was advised by Salans, which has since been renamed Dentons Europe. The investor claimed the scheme was a fraud and sought disclosure of documents passed between Salans and the company, which were privileged at the time of communication. A court held that the privilege attached to the documents remains in place even though the company no longer exists.
On appeal, the investor reiterated its argument that privilege is a right solely for an identifiable client and the client’s successors in title. No third party was entitled to assert it. Where no legal person has a right to privilege, the right ceases to exist and the court cannot enforce it. Dentons argued that privilege continued unless waived by the client or overridden by statute.
Delivering his judgment, Lord Justice Lewison said: ‘The rationale for the privilege means that privilege comes into existence at the time when the person in question consults his lawyer. The client must be sure at the time when he consults his lawyer, that, without his consent, there are no circumstances under which the privileged communications will be disclosed without his consent.’
Lewison LJ said the investor’s arguments would amount to a ‘retrospective redrawing of the boundaries of legal advice privilege’. He clarified that his judgment referred only to legal advice privilege not litigation privilege.
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