Fraud Nullifies Privilege
Confidential communications between a client and his legal adviser are not privileged if made for the purpose of committing a fraud or crime. For these purposes, it is irrelevant whether the fraud is that of the client, the adviser or a third party acting through an innocent client. Fraud in this context is a wide concept extending to iniquity, which embraces (for example) a plan to enter into transactions at an undervalue to prejudice the client's creditors. However, disclosure of such documents in such circumstances will only be ordered by a court if a particularly strong prima facie case of fraud is shown.
Read more about this topic: Legal Professional Privilege In England And Wales
Famous quotes containing the words fraud and/or privilege:
“He saw, he wish’d, and to the prize aspir’d.
Resolv’d to win, he meditates the way,
By force to ravish, or by fraud betray;
For when success a lover’s toil attends,
Few ask, if fraud or force attain’d his ends.”
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744)
“There is one privilege we’ll never lose; currently it’s called nationality. It means that everyone was born somewhere, which is in fact self-evident.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)