In-house Lawyers’ Legal Privilege Comes To France

On 23 February 2026, France enacted Law No. 2026-122, introducing, for the first time, a confidentiality regime for in-house legal counsel opinions. It will enter into force no later than 1 February 2027, pending an implementing decree.

While in-house lawyers in the US and the UK could shield their internal legal opinions from disclosure in civil and commercial proceedings, their French counterparts could not. Internal legal opinions drafted by « juristes d’entreprise » were fully discoverable (liable to seizure and potentially used against the company that commissioned them). In cross-border disputes and M&A litigation, this asymmetry constituted a competitive disadvantage and could have compelled in-house lawyers to exercise greater caution in their legal opinions.

To benefit from the confidentiality, several cumulative conditions must be met :

• Author and qualifications : the opinion must be drafted by a qualified in-house lawyer (« juristes d’entreprise ») or a team member placed under their authority, holding a master’s degree in law, who has completed an ethics training programme (the framework of which will be defined by ministerial order) ;
• Recipients : the opinion must be addressed exclusively to the company’s management or supervisory bodies, or those of its parent company or subsidiaries ;
• Nature : it must constitute a personalised intellectual assessment providing legal advice grounded in the application of a rule of law ;
• Form : it must bear the label « confidentiel – consultation juridique – juriste d’entreprise », identify its author, and be filed separately within the company’s records.
• Where these conditions are met, the opinion cannot be seized, compelled to be disclosed to third parties (including French or foreign administrative authorities), or used against the company in civil, commercial or administrative proceedings.

However, this confidentiality is not absolute. It does not apply in criminal or tax proceedings, nor in relation to EU institutions exercising supervisory powers (for example, in competition law).

A specific judicial procedure is established to challenge or lift confidentiality, for example, where its conditions are disputed.

Deliberately mislabelling a document as privileged is punishable by up to one year’s imprisonment and a EUR 15,000 fine.

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