Legal Professional Privilege in EU Competition Investigations

‘This thesis, directed by leading competition law practitioners Denis Waelbroeck and Jean-François Bellis, argues for an extension of legal professional privilege (LPP). For in-house counsel and in-house lawyers, the judgment handed down on September 14, 2010 by the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice in the Akzo case could not be accepted as a definitively closed door to their claims. Etsuko Kameoka takes up the thread of the debates, which have never ceased in reality, and underlines a renewed interest in view of the accentuation of elements such as the globalization of investigations, the free movement of lawyers within the Union, new technologies and the protection of personal data.’ – Catherine Prieto, Concurrences, Institute of Competition Law‘[Kameoka’s] book on Legal Professional Privilege in EU Competition Investigations provides a much needed and awaited contribution to the systematic development of LPP in EU competition law.’ – Andreas Ruster and Jakob Feddersen, Common Market Law Review‘The book is informative and well written. It provides a useful survey of legislation, case law and agency decisions affecting legal professional privilege in competition investigations. While its focus is on EU law, and specifically on investigations conducted by the European Commission, I find significant added value in the sections devoted to LPP protection in ten EU Member States, as well as in the EEA and in other major antitrust jurisdictions across the world. Apart from this emphasis on comparative law, what makes this book stand out is the effort to compile, reference and discuss every major precedent as far as EU law is concerned. I would recommend this book to anybody looking for an up-to-date and well-structured approach to this topic.’ – Eric Gippini Fournier, European Commission‘In today’s globalized world, this new book provides a much needed and up-to-date perspective on the handling of legal professional privilege in key jurisdictions. Useful advice is given in this regard to avoid costly mistakes and minimize risks of undesirable leaks. In a prospective manner, the book also argues convincingly for a revision of the rules, inter alia so that the current approach as followed in most jurisdictions be broadened to communication with in-house counsel and lawyers from foreign jurisdictions.’ – Denis Waelbroeck, Ashurst, Belgium

Etsuko Kameoka is an Attorney at Law.