Rehabilitation

Legal professional privilege gives legal recognition to a person's interest in maintaining the secrecy of confidential communications in connection with his legal affairs.

In legal and criminal cases, confidential communications passing between a client and his legal adviser need not disclosed or be given in evidence by the client and, without the client's consent, may not be disclosed or given in evidence by the legal adviser in a judicial proceeding. The lawyer is said to owe the client a duty and the privilege is that of the client.

There is certainly a lawyer and client relationship between James and Jeffries & Co, because he is an existing criminal client at the company.

There are certain conditions that a confidential communication between a client and legal adviser must meet before it is covered by the legal privilege. They are stated below according to statute.

1) Subject to subsection (2) "items subject to legal privilege" means

a) communications between a professional legal adviser and his client or any person representing his client made in connection with the giving of legal advice to the client;

b) communications between a professional legal adviser and his client or any person representing his client or between such an adviser or his client or any such representative and any other person made in connection with or in contemplation of legal proceedings and for the purposes of such proceedings; and

c) items enclosed with or referred to in such communications and made

i. in connection with the giving of legal advice; or

ii. in connection with or in contemplation of legal proceedings and for the purposes of such proceedings,

when they are in the possession of a person who is entitled to possession of them.

2) Items held with the intention of furthering a criminal purpose are not items subject to legal privilege.

The privilege is based on a judgment that in general, the public interest in protecting the confidentiality of the legal advice outweighs the public interest in ensuring unimpeded access to evidence

There is a rationale behind the legal professional