Watson v AWB Limited (No 3)

The dispute in Watson v AWB Limited (No 3) was between the applicants and the respondent regarding access to certain documents and the handling of legal professional privilege claims. The case was heard in the Federal Court of Australia. The primary issue was whether certain legal representatives should be granted access to documents produced by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) under strict confidentiality terms. Additionally, there was a disagreement on how the respondent should initially present its claims for legal professional privilege, whether through an affidavit or a letter.

The court resolved that the applicants' proposal for handling the privilege claims should be adopted due to the impending trial. The court emphasised the importance of maintaining confidentiality and ordered that only specified legal representatives who provided an undertaking would be allowed to inspect the ASIC documents. The respondent was given a six-day period to make any claims for legal professional privilege. If no claims were made, this fact had to be communicated to the applicants' solicitors within six days. If claims were made, the respondent was required to file an affidavit detailing the redacted documents and the basis for each claim. The applicants' legal representatives were not to access the documents until the claims were addressed. The court also granted liberty to the applicants to challenge any privilege claims before the Associate to Foster J.

The court issued detailed orders to manage the inspection and use of the ASIC documents, ensuring they were handled securely and used only for the purposes of the proceedings. These orders included provisions for photocopying the documents under strict conditions and for notifying any affected examinees if the documents were to be used in the trial. The court concluded that no party should bear the costs of the applications.