R (on the application of Ford) v Financial Services Authority [2011] EWHC 2583 (Admin), [2011] All ER (D) 140 (Oct)
Queen’s Bench Division, Administrative Court, Burnett J, 11 Oct 2011
The High Court has reviewed the principles applicable to joint interest legal privilege.
Hodge Malek QC and Saima Hanif (instructed by Withers LLP) for the claimant. Bankim Thanki QC and Andrew George (instructed by the FSA) for the defendant. The interested parties appeared in person.
The claimant and the first interested party (the executives) were directors of a company, Keydata. The second interested party was its compliance officer. A firm of solicitors, Irwin Mitchell, were retained in December 2007 by Keydata to advise in connection with an investigation by the defendant Financial Services Authority (FSA). It was common ground that the legal advice provided by Irwin Mitchell was privileged in the hands of Keydata. The executives believed, however, that Irwin Mitchell were also advising them as individuals and not simply as directors and officers of Keydata. In due course the FSA did open investigations into the executives personally. Keydata went into administration. PricewaterhouseCoopers
