Director of Public Prosecutions (Cth) v Kinghorn; Kinghorn v Director of Public Prosecutions (Cth) [2020] NSWCCA 48

Court of Criminal Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Director of Public Prosecutions (Cth) v Kinghorn; Kinghorn v Director of Public Prosecutions (Cth) [2020] NSWCCA 48 Hearing dates: 10 & 11 December 2019 Date of orders: 25 March 2020 Decision date: 25 March 2020 Before: Bathurst CJ; Fullerton J; Beech-Jones J Decision: In relation to the appeal by Mr John Kinghorn:

(1) Grant leave to appeal; (2) Dismiss the appeal.

In relation to the appeal by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions:

(1) Allow the appeal; (2) Set aside orders 1, 2 and 3 made on 30 October 2019; (3) Grant the parties' liberty to apply within 21 days to seek such further orders as are necessary to give effect to the Court's reasons.

In relation to the appeal by the Commissioner of Taxation and the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police:

(1) Save as to ground 2 of their appeal, grant each of the Commissioner of Taxation and the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police leave to appeal; (2) Refuse leave to appeal on ground 2; (3) Allow the appeal; (4) Set aside orders 1, 2, 6 and 8 made on 23 October 2019; (5) Vary order 8 made on 23 October 2019 to delete the words "orders 1 and 3" and substitute "order 3"; (6) Grant the parties' liberty to apply within 21 days to seek such further orders as are necessary to give effect to the Court's reasons. Catchwords: EVIDENCE – client legal privilege – claims for legal professional privilege by prosecuting and investigative bodies – relationship between the CDPP and persons within her office – whether relationship is sufficiently "independent" for privilege to exist over communications – Held: privilege claim upheld