Australasia

Brexit update - The conclusion of a comprehensive £650 billion trade and cooperation deal on 24 December has been welcomed on both sides of the Channel. The formal approval process is well underway, enabling the UK to transition to its new relationship with the EU on 1 January 2021 in an orderly manner.

The English courts have confirmed that the only requirement for legal advice privilege to apply to confidential legal advice between a client and a foreign lawyer is that the lawyer is acting in the capacity or function of a lawyer. The specific question asked was whether a foreign in-house lawyer’s advice, that would not attract the same protection in their home jurisdiction, would be subject to legal advice privilege.

A recent high court case clarifies that a party’s communications with its foreign lawyers, including its own foreign in-house team, are protected by the same legal advice privilege which also protects communications between English lawyers and their clients.

The United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation which was unveiled in 2019 (more commonly known as the ‘Singapore Mediation Convention’) comes into force on 12 September 2020.