WARWICK & ANOR & BARRE

The de facto Wife and her former solicitors, CE Family Lawyers, objected to a subpoena issued by the de facto Husband seeking documents. The dispute concerned whether the de facto Wife had impliedly waived her right to legal professional privilege over these documents through her conduct. The matter came before Judge Bender.

The central legal issue before the court was whether the de facto Wife had, by her actions, waived her legal professional privilege in relation to the documents sought by the subpoena. This required the court to consider the nature of implied waiver and whether the de facto Wife's conduct was inconsistent with the continued assertion of that privilege.

Judge Bender determined that the de facto Wife had not impliedly waived her legal professional privilege. The court found that the conduct relied upon by the de facto Husband was not sufficiently inconsistent with the maintenance of privilege to constitute a waiver. Consequently, the subpoena issued to CE Family Lawyers was set aside.