The Queensland Court of Appeal held that legal professional privilege does not attach to communications with a person who is legally qualified but not admitted to practice, even where the recipient reasonably believed the communication was privileged, and that advice given by a chartered accountant working for an accounting firm does not attract legal professional privilege. The Court also confirmed that without prejudice privilege only applies to admissions made in the course of genuinely negotiating a settlement, and the appellants had not established that the relevant communications constituted settlement negotiations. Both appeals were dismissed with costs.
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