The statutory non-compellability protection in s 171R of the Legal Profession Act 1987 (and its successor provisions in the Legal Profession Act 2004) cannot be impliedly waived through the Maurice/Mann v Carnell inconsistency doctrine, because the protection is based on public policy rather than personal right. Where reliance on s 171R would deny procedural fairness, the appropriate remedies are exclusion of evidence under s 135 of the Evidence Act, stay of proceedings, or dismissal of the complaint — not compulsion to produce. The protection applies to parts of documents, permitting redaction of protected material.
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