where legal professional privilege claimed over solicitors’ invoices
where solicitor on the record has reviewed invoices and considers that they disclose privileged communications and narratives which would allow the content of privileged communications to be inferred
Quick Take
1Legal professional privilege may attach to solicitors' invoices where the narratives and time entries, read individually or together in sequence, would reveal or allow inference of the content or nature of privileged communications; whether they do so depends on the circumstances and detail of the entries.
2A claim for privilege over invoices can be substantiated by evidence on information and belief from the solicitor on the record who has reviewed the invoices and deposes that the narratives disclose privileged communications or permit their content to be inferred, without the court needing to inspect the documents itself.
3It is not sufficient for a party claiming privilege merely to assert the documents are privileged or resort to a verbal formula, but the evidence here went beyond bare assertion and reflected genuine engagement with the invoices' contents.
