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1 The paralegal should not have taken it upon him/herself to send the documents to the court. I accept, he/she may have been very junior, and query what training was provided on confidentiality, SRA reporting obligations and other conduct issues. (All staff are subject to the Code of Conduct.)
2 The paralegal should have discussed it with someone in the firm e.g. COLP, or another partner or more senior fee earner (assuming there was anyone else of course - we don't know).
3 Unless an internal investigation showed the concerns to be wholly mistaken, someone in the firm should have reported the matter to the SRA. An SRA investigation would have enabled a fact find and would not have compromised the client’s claim to privilege (as to which see 4).
4 If there was a fraud, there would be no legal professional privilege. But the paralegal’s interpretation of what took place may yet be found to be mistaken.
5 The Judge should not have sent the documents to other side. That compromised any claim to privilege ("one of the most cardinal areas of our law" - para.12): even if the wife is prevented from using the documents, those who represent her will now know where the bodies are buried.

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