<p>In the six years that have elapsed since my third edition, there has been no let-up in the numbers of cases concerning the scope and application of legal professional privilege reaching the senior Courts of England and Wales&mdash;as well as senior courts of many other common law jurisdictions. Privilege remains a truly incredible and fascinating subject: of ancient origin but of continuing modern relevance, and a subject that continues to develop at pace that is sometimes difficult to keep up with. Thus, whilst I have sought to state the law as at September 2019, I am already aware of some important cases from the summer and autumn of 2019 that I have only been able to note in the fourth edition, publishing deadlines dictating that fuller consideration will need to await either an online update (perhaps) or even a fifth edition. These include the High Court of Australia&rsquo;s important decision in Glencore International AG v Commissioner of Taxation (2019] HCA 26 and the English Court of Appeal decisions in Lee Addlesee v Dentons Europe LLP [2019] EWCA Civ 1600 and Curless v Shell International Limited [2019] EWCA Civ 1710. I am aware that there are further potentially important appeals to the English Court of Appeal pending from The Financial Reporting Council Ltd v Sports Direct International Plc [2018] EWHC 2284 (Ch), Raiffeisen Bank International AG v Asia Coal Energy Ventures Ltd, Ashurst LLP [2019] EWHC 3 (Comm) and Jet2.Com Ltd, R. (on the application of) v Civil Aviation Authority [2018] EWHC 3364 (Admin) (see Chapters 1 and 2 respectively).</p>
