Order Description
Legal Risk Management.
Question:
You are a junior in-house lawyer employed by Carterelo Ltd at its London office, a well-known UK commodities company which has branch offices all over the European Union.

The head of the legal department Brad Trenton has been told by the Chief Executive Officer that he has heard a rumour that the EU Commission may carry out a dawn raid within a matter of days on a Carterelo Branch office, but he does not know which one.

He understands that the EU Commission believe that Carterelo may have breached article 101 or 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

Brad has put together a team of lawyers and other specialists to prepare for the raid if it happens.
One of the things he is concerned about is whether the legal department can claim legal professional privilege if the Commission attempts to seize any documents.

Brad has also engaged the services and sought advice from Ms Sydney Bristow, an anti-trust specialist lawyer in the US who has a long record of successfully defending firms from EU Commission investigations. Brad has written to her apprising her of the situation and requesting advice in relation.

Further, Brad has had confirmation that the UK Office of Fair Trading has also decided to investigate Carterelo Ltd in the UK for competition infringement under UK law and will be requesting documents from the London office shortly.

With this in mind Brad has asked you to prepare a clear and accurate note on the current position on the applicability of legal privilege with reference to EU case law. He understands there was a judgment by the old Court of First Instance on this case in 2007 which was confirmed by another judgment by the European Court of Justice more recently.

When preparing the note he wants you to articulate the current thinking put forward by the relevant case law and to advise on key steps Carterelo and its employees should undertake in preparing for the dawn raids and advice on possible procedures the company should take in respect of its communications in-house, going forward.