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Companies Act 1993

Miscellaneous

393: Privileged communications

You could also call this:

“Protecting private discussions between lawyers and clients”

This law is about keeping certain conversations between lawyers and their clients private. Here’s what you need to know:

Lawyers don’t have to share private talks with their clients, but there’s an exception. If a lawyer was working for a company that’s in trouble, they might have to share some information.

For a conversation to be private, it must be:

  1. A secret talk between two lawyers or between a lawyer and their client.
  2. About getting or giving legal advice.
  3. Not about doing something illegal or wrong.

If the information is just about money matters (like payments or income) and it’s in the lawyer’s trust account records, it’s not private.

If there’s a question about whether something should be private or not, a court can decide. They might ask to see the information to make their decision.

In this law, a “legal practitioner” means a lawyer who can work in the High Court. It also includes law firms where the lawyer is a partner, director, or shareholder.

This text is automatically generated. It might be out of date or be missing some parts. Find out more about how we do this.

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM323278.

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Part 22 Miscellaneous

393Privileged communications

  1. Subject to subsection (2), nothing in this Act requires a legal practitioner to disclose a privileged communication.

  2. Nothing in subsection (1) applies to a communication made to or by a person referred to in section 261(2)(f) while acting or having acted as a solicitor for a company to which that section applies and which that person is required to disclose under section 261(3).

  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; and
    1. a legal practitioner in his or her professional capacity and another legal practitioner in that 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 an illegal or wrongful act.

          1. If 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 is not a privileged communication if it is contained in, or comprises the whole or part of, a 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. The court may, on the application of any person, determine whether or not a claim of privilege is valid and may, for that purpose, require the information or document to be produced.

          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 an 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
          Notes
          • Section 393(4): amended, on , by section 348 of the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006 (2006 No 1).
          • Section 393(6): replaced, on , by section 348 of the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006 (2006 No 1).