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Abdulali Jiwaji unpacks the High Court’s decision in Glencore & the implications for privilege claims during disclosure
- In Aabar SÀRL v Glencore, the High Court considered the scope of the seminal 2003 decision on legal advice privilege, Three Rivers (No 5).
- The Glencore decision clarifies that Three Rivers (No 5) does not restrict the extent to which legal advice privilege can apply to communications within a non-lawyer client team.
- This increases the scope for claiming privilege over communications generated within a corporate in connection with seeking and receiving legal advice.
The question of how communications with a corporate client may be managed so as to preserve a claim for legal advice privilege was considered by the High Court in Aabar SÀRL and others v Glencore Plc and others [2026] EWHC 877 (Comm) (Glencore) in April this year.
This is a point that often arises in the context of disclosure—the disclosing party may well claim privilege in an expansive manner, which is then challenged by the receiving party.
