§ discipline

Protect legal professional privilege client

The lawyer must protect the client's legal professional privilege, advise the client of the right to assert it, and not access or use privileged material intended for or belonging to others.

41 cases 59% strike-off

How the codes express this duty

E&W Solicitors SRA Principles & Code CCS 6.4(d) partial 35 cases
6.4 ... except when: ... (d) the information is contained in a privileged document that you have knowledge of only because it has been mistakenly disclosed.

SRA Code of Conduct for Solicitors, RELs and RFLs · 2019 · archived copy · official source ↗

E&W Barristers BSB Handbook gC42; gC93 partial
gC42 The duty of confidentiality (CD6) is central to the administration of justice. Clients who put their confidence in their legal advisers must be able to do so in the knowledge that the information they give, or which is given on their behalf, will stay confidential. In normal circumstances, this information will be privileged and not disclosed to a court.

BSB Handbook · current · archived copy · official source ↗

Cayman Islands Legal Services Code 2026 no clear equivalent
AU Solicitors Solicitors' Conduct Rules Rules 19.5.1; 31.1 partial 1 case
19.5.1 must seek instructions for the waiver of legal professional privilege, if the matters are protected by that privilege... 31.1 ...a solicitor to whom material known or reasonably suspected to be confidential is disclosed... must not use the material...

Australian Solicitors' Conduct Rules · 2015 (June 2026 compilation) · archived copy · official source ↗

AU Barristers Uniform Barristers Rules r30 partial
A barrister who has knowledge of matters which are within Rule 29(c): (a) must seek instructions for the waiver of legal professional privilege if the matters are protected by that privilege so as to permit the barrister to disclose those matters under Rule 29.

Legal Profession Uniform Conduct (Barristers) Rules · 2015 (as amended 14 May 2025) · archived copy · official source ↗

IE Solicitors Law Society Guide Ch4 — Privilege; Receipt of information intended for the other party strong
Solicitors should advise their clients that they, the client, have a right to assert a claim to LPP upon forming a view that a valid claim to LPP arises... Solicitors should not knowingly open privileged communications not addressed to the solicitor or the solicitor's firm.

Solicitor's Guide to Professional Conduct (Law Society of Ireland) · 4th ed. (2022) · archived copy · official source ↗

IE Barristers Bar Code of Conduct Rule 3.7(b); Rule 3.8 partial
Barristers may not permit any recording, by electronic or by any other means, of any privileged or confidential conversation between them, their solicitors, clients or other person in any circumstances without the authority of their client.

Code of Conduct for the Bar of Ireland · 2024 · archived copy · official source ↗

JM Attorneys Canons of Professional Ethics Canon IV(t) partial 3 cases
An Attorney shall not knowingly- (i) reveal a confidence or secret of his client, or (ii) use a confidence or secret of his client ... unless in any case it is done with the consent of the client after full disclosure.

Legal Profession (Canons of Professional Ethics) Rules · 1978 (principal) · archived copy · official source ↗

JE Lawyers Law Society of Jersey Code G.2.3; G.2.12 partial
There is a difference between the duty of confidentiality and the concept of legal privilege. Legal privilege protects certain communications with a client from being disclosed even in court... assess whether privileged information is protected from disclosure.

Law Society of Jersey Code of Conduct · 1 January 2017 · archived copy · official source ↗

ON Lawyers LSO Rules of Prof. Conduct r 3.5-7 commentary [1]; r 3.3-1.1 partial
[3.5-7 cmt 1] The lawyer should be alert to the duty to claim on behalf of a client any privilege in respect of property seized or attempted to be seized by an external authority or in respect of third party claims made against the property. [3.3-1.1] When required by law or by order of a tribunal of competent jurisdiction, a lawyer shall disclose confidential information, but the lawyer shall not disclose more information than is required.

Law Society of Ontario — Rules of Professional Conduct · current · archived copy · official source ↗

BC Lawyers BC Code r 3.3-2.1 strong 1 case
A lawyer who is required, under federal or provincial legislation, to produce a document or provide information that is or may be privileged must, unless the client waives the privilege, claim solicitor-client privilege in respect of the document.

Code of Professional Conduct for British Columbia (BC Code) · 2017 · archived copy · official source ↗

NZ Lawyers Conduct & Client Care Rules r 13.9.2 / r 13.9.3 strong
A lawyer must not claim privilege on behalf of a client unless there are proper grounds for doing so. A lawyer must not, other than by application to the court, seek to obtain on behalf of a client information or documents that the lawyer knows to be privileged unless every person holding that privilege ... waives that privilege.

Lawyers and Conveyancers Act (Lawyers: Conduct and Client Care) Rules 2008 · SR 2008/214 · archived copy · official source ↗

SCO Solicitors LSS Standards of Conduct B1.6 partial 1 case
You must maintain client confidentiality.

Law Society of Scotland — Practice Rules 2011, Rule B1 (Standards of Conduct) · 2011 · archived copy · official source ↗

SG Lawyers Professional Conduct Rules 2015 r 6 (Confidentiality) partial
6 Confidentiality

Legal Profession (Professional Conduct) Rules 2015 · 2015 · archived copy · official source ↗

HK Solicitors Solicitors' Guide Principle 8.01 Commentary 8 strong
A client has the right to refuse to disclose, even to a court, confidential communication with his lawyer made for the purpose of obtaining legal advice. ... A solicitor is bound to assert this privilege on behalf of his client. A solicitor has no right unilaterally to waive a client's privilege; consent of the client or a court order must be obtained.

Hong Kong Solicitors' Guide to Professional Conduct (Volume 1) · current · archived copy · official source ↗

HK Barristers Bar Code of Conduct para 7.13(a) partial
A practising barrister must at all times take all reasonable steps to ensure that the papers in any brief or instructions delivered to him and copies thereof and their contents and other information entrusted by the client to him in confidence, regardless of the forms in which they are presented, stored or kept, are handled, stored and disposed of securely and not accessed by any third persons without authority whether deliberately or accidentally.

Code of Conduct of the Bar of the Hong Kong SAR · 2018 · archived copy · official source ↗

Cases dealing with this duty

Clear

41 decisions · link basis: found breached = a tribunal finding; rule cited = the mapped provision is cited in the decision; text match = high-precision text pattern

Duty classification does not yet cover every jurisdiction (Ontario, New Zealand and Singapore decisions are indexed but not yet duty-classified), so counts here understate those corpora.