Hong Kong: legal advice privilege – important development for corporates

In an important judgment, the Hong Kong Court of Appeal has recently decided that legal advice privilege (often referred to as “solicitor-client” or “attorney-client” privilege) can extend to confidential internal communications between employees of a client organisation, provided those communications were created for the sole or dominant purpose of obtaining legal advice.

Legal advice privilege is a fundamental human right and applies as much to corporates as it does to individuals.  In this context, the expression ‘legal advice’ is widely construed and refers to a client’s rights and obligations eg, advice as to what to do in a relevant legal context, whether litigious or non-litigious.