Legal Practitioners Act 1981

An investigator who enters premises under this Part may exercise any or all of the following powers:

search the premises and examine anything on the premises;

search for any information, document or other material relating to the matter to which the investigation relates;

operate equipment or facilities on the premises for a purpose relevant to the investigation;

take possession of any relevant material and retain it for as long as may be necessary to examine it to determine its evidentiary value;

make copies of any relevant material or any part of any relevant material;

seize and take away any relevant material or any part of any relevant material;

use (free of charge) photocopying equipment on the premises for the purpose of copying any relevant material;

with respect to any computer or other equipment that the investigator suspects on reasonable grounds may contain any relevant material—

inspect and gain access to a computer or equipment;

download or otherwise obtain any documents or information;

make copies of any documents or information held in it;

seize and take away any computer or equipment or any part of it;

if any relevant material found on the premises cannot be conveniently removed—secure it against interference;

request any person who is on the premises to do any of the following:

to state his or her full name, date of birth and address;

to answer (orally or in writing) questions asked by the investigator relevant to the investigation;

to produce relevant material;

to operate equipment or facilities on the premises for a purpose relevant to the investigation;

to provide access (free of charge) to photocopying equipment on the premises the investigator reasonably requires to enable the copying of any relevant material;

to give other assistance the investigator reasonably requires to carry out the investigation;

do anything else reasonably necessary to obtain information or evidence for the purposes of the investigation.

Any documents, information or anything else obtained by the investigator may be used for the purposes of the investigation.

If an investigator takes anything away from the premises, the investigator must issue a receipt and—

if the occupier or a person apparently responsible to the occupier is present, give it to him or her; or

otherwise, leave it on the premises in an envelope addressed to the occupier.

An investigator may be accompanied by any assistants the investigator requires, including persons with accounting expertise and persons to assist in finding and gaining access to electronically stored information.