We believe that legal professional privilege is an important consideration for law firms instructing us in relation to regulatory and disciplinary matters, including anti-money laundering audits under regulation 21 of the MLR 2017.
While it is generally now accepted that legal professional privilege may apply to internal communications with a law firm’s general counsel or equivalent, the informality of internal communication means that boundaries may easily be crossed. An illustration of some of the issues, albeit with different laws on privilege, can be found in a recent US decision in Bonde v. Wexler & Kaufman, PLLC , 2023 WL 8527672 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 8, 2023).
Communication with non-solicitors will never be privileged (save in the context of litigation privilege).
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