The Law of Privilege for Civil Practitioners 2025 - On Demand

Package includes:

On Demand Module  l  Electronic booklet  l  PowerPoint Presentation

Package Fee (incl GST)

• $115 - Law Society members and Associate members
• $165 - Non-members

Note: Access to the online files is via your "My CPD" page. If you would like to purchase multiple packages, please contact us here.

On Demand Module

The law surrounding privilege and privileged communications is nuanced, which can lead to strife when not fully understood. Moreover, it is not simply a rule of evidence for litigators, but an area that touches upon every area of a lawyer’s practice. This module will take a close look at some of the trickier issues that civil practitioners face and help with navigating around these issues when they do arise.

Topics covered will include:

• Sources of privilege (a tale of intrigue, kidnapping, murder, indentured servitude, lost heirs and wicked uncles)
• Privilege vs confidentiality
• Common mistakes in without prejudice communications
• Waiver of privilege
• Joint and successive privilege.

Learning objectives

By completing this module you will:

• Be refreshed and updated in your knowledge and understanding of legal privilege.
• Better understand specific aspects of privilege as they apply to civil practice.
• Be more confident in managing privilege issues when they arise.

Electronic paper 

Author: Stephen Caradus
Published: 17 July 2025
Pages: 35

Introduction

Privilege is at the bedrock of our legal system. The principle’s underpinnings are well established and well known (and are even incorporated into our rules of professional conduct). Judges speak of privilege as “absolute”, a “human right”, a “simple principle” that has existed since the “16th century” where the balance in favour of privilege was struck “once for all”. Statements such as this can create the impression that privilege is static – like a statute carved from marble hundreds of years ago – fixed and unchanging – for better or worse.

There is merit to that view. Judicial observations about privilege from a hundred years ago remain applicable today. So, why this topic? Because longevity is not the same as consistency. In that regard privilege is more like clay – its substance may not have changed in centuries – but it is malleable. Its form can be moulded and reshaped to suits its environment. Its form has nuance, and is dynamic, being shaped by trends and developments in the law. In that regard, there is much in our rules of legal professional privilege that a 16th century judge would not recognise, or even a judge from the 1960s.

All practitioners will know the substance of privilege (since it forms part of our professional obligations) but many are not acquainted with its forms, which have been reshaped and moulded by a number of recent decisions. Moreover, a familiarity with the substance of privilege may not be enough to inform practitioners, on a very practical level, whether privilege can or should be asserted. Mistakes can have serious repercussions for both client and practitioner.

PowerPoint Presentation

These are the slides included in the presentation.