Overview
Global Investigations Review (GIR) quoted Zoe Osborne in a February 20 article titled "Sports Direct Wins Partial Victory in Privilege Wrangle." The article discusses a long-running privilege dispute involving the UK accounting regulator and Sports Direct over emails with its lawyers discussing an audit. On February 18, the Court of Appeal for England and Wales approved an earlier court decision ordering Sports Direct to hand over attachments to emails demanded by the UK Financial Reporting Council (FRC), but allowed the company to keep the emails themselves confidential. The latest ruling rejects the notion that email attachments are privileged simply because they are linked to privileged communications.
Osborne says the decision shows UK courts are becoming more deferential towards legally protected privilege: "the pendulum is swinging in the right direction after some pretty terrifying rulings on privilege." Osborne warns, however, that the FRC and other UK regulators with similar powers, such as the Law Society, may feel their statutory investigative capacities have been curbed by the court’s latest decision.
The full article can be read at GIR (subscription required).
