Insight: In-house lawyers — No protection when faced with the EU Commission

September 2007
Alistair Graham, John Reynolds, Robert Wheal, Jason Yardley

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One of England & Wales' fundamental legal protections has just suffered a blow at the hands of the European judiciary. In certain circumstances, legal professional privilege will not apply to communications between in-house counsel and their internal clients.

This decision ended a saga that has run since early 2003 when the European Commission ["the Commission"] suspected Akzo Nobel Chemicals Ltd A ["Akzo"] and Akcros Chemicals Ltd ["Akcros"] of anti-competitive practices.