In Ultra Information Systems Canada Inc. v. Pushor Mitchell LLP (2008 Carswell BC 1537 (B.C.S.C.)), one of the corporate Defendants had become bankrupt. There was an issue as to whether some of the bankrupt Defendant’s production documents were privileged. The Court considered whether the Trustee in Bankruptcy could waive the previously claimed solicitor and client privilege and therefore produce the documents.

Australian-listed Slater & Gordon, the world’s first publicly traded law firm, is preparing to post what is understood to be legal sector’s biggest ever annual loss.  A profit warning filed with the Australian Securities Exchange, reveals the firm's full-year net loss after tax for the year ended 30 June is expected to total A$1,017.6m. 

In Shlosberg v Avonwick Holdings Ltd [2016] EWHC 1001 (Ch), Mr Shloesberg applied for an order restraining Dechert (a firm of solicitors) from acting for Avonwick (the first respondent) and Mr Shloesberg's Trustees in bankruptcy (the third respondents). 

The Jackson reforms to no-win no-fee agreements and the UK government's proposal to ban general damages for minor personal injuries have sent many UK firms into a tailspin.

Frustration amongst creditors of struggling UK law firms continues to grow.  Administrators of Challinors have concluded that the partnership's unsecured creditors, owed approximately £7.1m, are likely to receive nothing.  Meanwhile the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has advised 141 firms that they must prepare to shut-down following their failure to obtain professional indemnity cover.  These firms are currently in the middle of a 60 day cessation period during which they may remain in business, but cannot accept any new instructions.  While some have blamed the

In what seems to be an unrelenting trend, new figures released this month by the British Solicitors' Regulation Authority (SRA), have disclosed that 30 of the top-200 UK law firms are in serious financial difficulty and have entered into "intensive engagement" with the SRA. While no names were named, it was revealed that these firms were among a wider group of 400 UK firms that were under active management by the regulator.

In the recent English decision of Neumans LLP v Andronikou & Others, a company had unsuccessfully opposed a winding up petition and the question for the Court was whether the solicitors' costs in doing so were an expense of the administration. In considering this issue, the Court noted that there would have to be "some special reason, connected with the administration" to make the administrators pay fees in full as an expense when statutory provisions did not allow for solicitors to have priority over other creditors and those entitled to claim expenses.

The UK Court of Appeal has held that legal privilege outlasts the dissolution of a company in Addlesee v Dentons Europe LLP [2019] EWCA Civ 1600.

Legal advice privilege applies to communications between a client and its lawyers. The general rule is that those communications cannot be disclosed to third parties unless and until the client waives the privilege.

In Wong v. Luu, the British Columbia Court of Appeal upheld an order requiring the production of a redacted trust ledger to the bankruptcy trustees for Luu Hung Viet Derrick (“Luu”) on the grounds that the trust ledger was not presumptively privileged and that production would not violate the bankrupt’s right to communicate in confidence with his lawyers.

This week’s TGIF considers the recent decision of Hastie Group Ltd (in liq) v Moore [2016] NSWCA 305 in which the Court held that privilege attached to an expert report prepared for the purpose of obtaining litigation funding.

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