Summary

These appeals raise the question whether what has been described as 'privilege hunting' (i.e. obtaining or seeking to obtain an opponent's confidential and privileged information by dishonest means) is an abuse of the process of the English court and, if it is, what if anything should be the court's response.

In the present case the claimants employed a company called Black Cube, a private investigation firm staffed by former Israeli intelligence officers, to target in a covert sting operation the solicitor at the defendants' solicitors who had the conduct of the defendants' case. By pretending to be a potential new client, a Black Cube operative fraudulently induced the solicitor to attend meetings in Amsterdam, at which the solicitor was induced to reveal sensitive information about the case, including the impact of freezing orders which the claimants had obtained, perceived weaknesses in the defendants' case, litigation strategy and settlement strategy. The meetings were secretly recorded and the recordings were provided to the claimants.