United Kingdom: Disclosure & Electronic Discovery & Privilege

Generative AI is transforming legal discovery by enabling machine-first, human-verified workflows that promise unprecedented speed and efficiency. However, the real challenge lies not in the technology's capability to process vast volumes of data, but in strategically deploying senior legal expertise to ensure reviews remain both defensible and valuable.

This is the first article in our new series “From data to direction: using AI in litigation/investigations”. We’ll explore rapidly evolving AI-enabled capabilities, the power of combining tools and technologies and how you can effectively manage and analyze your data sources.

The High Court has ruled that it cannot compel overseas parties to disclose documents located abroad through pre-action disclosure applications under s.33(2) Senior Courts Act 1981. This landmark decision resolves a question left open by the Court of Appeal and establishes that the Hague Convention regime, rather than domestic pre-action disclosure procedures, is the proper mechanism for obtaining evidence from foreign jurisdictions.

The English High Court has ruled that legal advice privilege can extend to internal communications between members of a client group within an organisation, provided these communications are prepared for the dominant purpose of seeking legal advice.

As generative AI tools become ubiquitous in the workplace, employers face a critical but often overlooked challenge: preserving AI-generated documents during litigation. This article examines how the duty to preserve evidence extends to GenAI prompts, outputs, and chat histories, and why failing to capture this data could expose organizations to serious legal consequences.

English courts have reaffirmed that witness coaching is prohibited regardless of method, including through AI chatbots. A recent criminal case examined whether AI-generated documents that rehearsed cross-examination answers constituted impermissible coaching, ultimately finding that while such use violates established principles, procedural safeguards may prevent proceedings from being stayed. The decision raises critical questions about how AI tools intersect with longstanding rules protecting witness test

Publicly available artificial intelligence (AI) tools are widely available and uptake in their use has grown exponentially in recent years. With use of such AI tools becoming increasingly normalised...

The English High Court has issued a landmark ruling that legal advice privilege can now extend to internal corporate communications between members of a "client group," even when no lawyer is party to the exchange. This expansion of privilege doctrine has significant implications for businesses conducting internal investigations, managing regulatory inquiries, and preparing for potential disputes.

As internal investigations surge amid heightened regulatory enforcement and whistleblower complaints, organizations face mounting pressure to handle complex inquiries spanning financial misconduct, HR disputes, and cross-border compliance challenges.