Colin Passmore, senior partner at international law firm Simmons & Simmons, has published with Sweet & Maxwell the fourth edition of his book, Privilege. This evolving work spans nearly 25 years of Colin’s career and provides a comprehensive coverage of the fundamentals of the English law of privilege, together with comparative analysis of relevant decisions from other common law jurisdictions.
This fourth edition (current as of late autumn 2019) offers an update that covers hundreds of court decisions on privilege since the last edition in 2013, as well as fresh perspectives on the core tenets of privilege and its developing relationship with the use of executive, regulatory and statutory powers of investigation and enforcement.
On the publication of the latest edition of his book, Colin Passmore commented:
“I am pleased (and relieved) to have concluded my fourth edition. Privilege remains a hugely relevant subject to all practitioners on a daily basis, as evidenced by the sheer volume of on-going case-law on the subject. As importantly, privilege is a precious and unique right that I believe is under some attack: there is undoubtedly evidence of an executive trend towards encroachment on the right to privilege, as evidenced by the passing of the Investigatory Powers Act in 2016. The legal profession needs to be ready, in my view, to take steps to defend privilege if this trend continues. Otherwise, I hope that this book will continue to be of use to both serving practitioners of the law, and academics engaged in the examination of legal privilege.”
