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Serious Fraud Office Act 1990

General provisions relating to warrants and exercise of powers under Parts 1 and 2 - Effect of powers on duty of confidentiality

24: Legal professional privilege

You could also call this:

"Secret conversations with your lawyer are protected by law"

Illustration for Serious Fraud Office Act 1990

You do not have to tell the Director of the Serious Fraud Office something if it is a privileged communication. This means it is a secret conversation between you and your lawyer, or between two lawyers. The conversation must be about getting or giving legal advice. If you are a lawyer, the Director can ask you for your client's name and address. The Director can only do this if they think your client might be involved in something the Serious Fraud Office is investigating. Some information is not privileged, like financial records. You can find out more about this in section 6 of the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006. If someone refuses to share information because they think it is privileged, they can ask a District Court Judge to decide. The Judge might ask to see the information to make a decision. A lawyer is someone who is a barrister or solicitor of the High Court. This includes law firms, which you can read more about in the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM211455.

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"Law applies to people who keep client secrets"

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Part 3General provisions relating to warrants and exercise of powers under Parts 1 and 2
Effect of powers on duty of confidentiality

24Legal professional privilege

  1. Except as provided in subsection (2), nothing in this Act shall require any legal practitioner to disclose any privileged communication.

  2. The Director may, by notice in writing to any legal practitioner who the Director has reason to believe may have acted for any person who may be connected with any investigation, require that legal practitioner to supply to the Director the last known name and address of that client.

  3. For the purposes of this section, a communication is a privileged communication only if—

  4. it is a confidential communication, whether oral or written, passing between—whether made directly or indirectly through an agent of either; and
    1. a legal practitioner in his or her professional capacity and another legal practitioner in such capacity; or
      1. a legal practitioner in his or her professional capacity and his or her client,—
      2. it is made or brought into existence for the purpose of obtaining or giving legal advice or assistance; and
        1. it is not made or brought into existence for the purpose of committing or furthering the commission of some illegal or wrongful act.

          1. Where the information or document consists wholly of payments, income, expenditure, or financial transactions of a specified person (whether a legal practitioner, his or her client, or any other person), it shall not be a privileged communication if it is contained in, or comprises the whole or part of, any book, account, statement or other record prepared or kept by the legal practitioner in connection with a trust account of the legal practitioner within the meaning of section 6 of the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006.

          2. Where any person refuses to disclose any information or document on the ground that it is a privileged communication under this section, the Director or that person may apply to a District Court Judge for an order determining whether or not the claim of privilege is valid; and, for the purposes of determining any such application, the District Court Judge may require the information or document to be produced to him or her.

          3. For the purposes of this section, the term legal practitioner means a barrister or solicitor of the High Court, and references to a legal practitioner include a firm or incorporated law firm (within the meaning of the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006) in which he or she is, or is held out to be, a partner, director, or shareholder.

          Compare
          • 1966 No 19 s 218A
          • 1985 No 145 s 15
          Notes
          • Section 24(4): amended, on , by section 348 of the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006 (2006 No 1).
          • Section 24(6): substituted, on , by section 348 of the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006 (2006 No 1).