Comparative Professional Responsibility and Legal Ethics Education: Privilege in Global Legal Services

This paper discusses the impact of globalisation on Australian professional responsibility and legal ethics education by a brief critical analysis of the doctrine of client/legal professional privilege in global legal services such as international arbitration. The analysis is used to support the paper’s premise that current approaches to Australian professional responsibility and legal ethics education that are de-lineated by a state and territory focus, can be up-dated. This is not only because of moves toward a national Australian legal profession, but because of the need to equip all Australian law graduates with the requisite skills to identify and handle new ethical challenges posed by a global legal services environment.