NSW Inadvertently waiving legal privilege help please....

[EBDani]

Hi All....

My plonker XH sent me an email yonx ago with an "FYI" on it to appear to be 'transparent' with me. I dug it out for as the numbers were interesting and forwarded it to my (Tier One, uber expensive!) Sydney lawyer yesterday and she had kittens as the trail on the email showed conversations between my husband and his lawyer, complete with which pool approach +++++, oh, shame.

Now I got roused on by my lawyer for forwarding it but had no idea it wasn't allowed - jeepers, how would I know that???!!!! Can anybody explain please in layman's terms what this potentially means please? Did my XH 'waive his legal privilege' and if so what does that actually mean please? My lawyer clearly faaaaar too busy to answer the question herself. Grrrrrrr.

By the by I would absolutely LOVE a reason to be able to force my XH to sack his thieving (fellow Tier One) lawyer so I guess I'm hoping this may go in my favour as now information is out there that perhaps my lawyer team obvs weren't meant to see. Could anybody pretty please with a cherry on top enlighten me - I'd be ever so appreciative. *mwah*

 

[Rod]

A lawyer has many duties and responsibilities, and only some are owed to you as a client.

Your lawyer should have immediately deleted the email and notified the tier one lawyer. Your lawyer's reaction is likely the correct reaction.

I can't see an inadvertent disclosure like this being deem to be a express or implied waiver of privilege.

I'm not aware of any duties you owe to your ex.

 

[SamanthaJay]

Similar happened to me whereby someone writing to my ex's lawyer on his behalf, cc'd me in by mistake (they thought they were cc'ing in my ex - he apparently now has an email address very similar to mine). I was privy to a month or so worth of email correspondence between them. I informed my lawyer and they immediately informed his lawyer. And we all got on with our lives.

 

[Lennon]

I think it could be considered a waiver of privilege because your ex sent that email to you deliberately, not inadvertently (usually when it is inadvertent the courts will find that there has been no waiver). If he has waived privilege, all that would mean is that you would not be obliged to delete the email, but could read it.

It would never mean that his lawyers have to cease acting for him.